Percy Jackson, a god?
by companion17
Summary: What if Percy had accepted Zeus' offer? What would have happened if Percy became a god? How would life turn out for Annabeth, and the rest of the campers? Read to find out... Also includes the next Great Prophecy...
1. Chapter 1

**Percy Jackson,**

**a god?**

_Annabeth Chase _

**Fate plays a cruel joke**

_The golden chamber echoed the piercing words of Lord Zeus. My heart burst in agony. Percy, a god? Immortal? I prayed for the words I desperately needed to hear: Percy's refusal. My face mirrored Percy's era's ago, when we had stood here with Thalia. At the time I hadn't understood his expression. _

_ "Thank you Lord Zeus, I accept." Percy had bowed and his voice was wavering with weariness – not indecision. All the gods stood, thirteen of the most powerful beings in existence. _

_ Suddenly Percy's body was raised into the air. Showers of golden sparks surrounded him, like a halo. Silver and gold arrows erupted from opposite sides of the throne room, enclosing him in a circle; at the same time waves and flashes of green, red, pink, white, purple, bronze and black rushed through him. Instantly, new shinning bronze armour appeared on his body in honour. A duo of snakes curled around his right arm, with pride, and sank into the hot metal in his armour, leaving a gleaming outline._

_ The blessing of the god's._

_Finally the last of the gods stepped forward, out of the perfect semi-circle. His black beard glinting with pride for his son, the result of a broken promise, whose body was raised in the centre of the chamber: becoming a god. _

_Poseidon. _

_He raised his magnificent weapon in glory, spoke an ancient Greek phrase, known only to the gods and struck Percy. _

_As I stared, I saw Percy's features changing. They became more mermish and sea-like. His body was curled, but he was starting to rise. His movements were graceful, very un-Percy. _

_Slowly, his body descended to the floor, the gods sat. Percy's eyes opened, green and restless like the ocean. _

"_Rise Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon. Raise our newest god. You shall serve in your father's court for the rest of eternity."_

_Percy closed his eyes as he took in Zeus' words. Suddenly, his skin began to glow, the completion of the faze, the colour was turquoise and as he caught sight of it his grin grew wider and it took all my power not to burst into tears. My head was pounding against my skull._

_Everything had changed. _

_Mere hours ago I had had three of the best friends in the world. I had been so scared, as we battled Kronos and his endless army; they were going to get hurt. My prayers had been answered, but in the worst way. One of them had been made a Lord of the Wild, an incredible honour. One would have to leave again, as Artemis' lieutenant, for the hunt. One had been made a god, right in front of me. _

I woke with a start. Tears stained my face and sweat nestled on my brow. My blankets were scattered around my bed, and the sun was rising in the sky outside my window.

I'm Annabeth Chase. I live in San Francisco, with my dad, a professor, my step-mom and their two children. I spend every holiday in Long Island at camp. Oh, and I almost forgot I'm a half-blood, demi-god whatever.

I'm half human and half god.

My mother is Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle.

I got up quickly, pulling on my orange camp top and rushed out of my cabin. A lot had changed in the last four months at camp. I had been away at school since August, and when I had arrived, days ago, it wasn't the snow covering the camp that had startled me. More cabins had been added, in accordance with Hermes' pact. The old 'U' shape was now a complete full circle.

Few campers were awake yet, but I spotted Nico emerging from cabin 13, Hades' cabin. The walls were solid black with blue fires heating the vast inside. Bones lined the walls, sending shivers down your spine when you entered. So far Nico was still alone in the cabin – Hades being the only one of the big three who hadn't broken their pact. The previously nearly empty cabin 3 now had four occupants. Cabin 1, however, still stood empty. Not due to Zeus' trustworthiness – but to fate.

Several heroes had been found by satyrs, and brought near to camp half-blood: all children of Zeus, Lord of the Sky; monsters always tracked them down before they actually reached the property line.

"Hey Annabeth, are you looking forward to capture the flag tonight?" Nico's voice was cheery and bright.

"Yeah, course," I shrugged, distracted, my gaze back on cabin 3, my mind locked on its past, its previous sole occupant: the newest god on Olympus.

Back in August we defeated Kronos, lord of the titans together. Everything had been perfect. Luke was gone. He really had saved the world. He had sacrificed himself and defeated Kronos; hopefully for good even though Kronos is immortal. Luke and I had been friends since I was seven, but when I turned twelve, the year Percy came to camp, he'd changed but I had held on to him, not wanting to give up on him. Then I finally understood. I had understood since August; I let Luke go. Rachael Elizabeth Dare had become the oracle. Percy's human swiftly and easily taken care of, although I would have liked a few swipes at her with Clarrise's spear…

Then everything collapsed. Zeus, Lord of the Sky, I sneered, had sealed our fates. Percy's string had become golden, untouchable.

"We can make you a god." The words kept repeating in my mind, taunting me. Percy got made a god. I got nothing. Oh wait, sorry, I forgot, I got made the architect of Olympus. Great, no sarcasm intended, but I also got my best friend, more than that, snatched away.

I shook myself back to reality, unnecessarily as Nico understood. He didn't persist in a conversation as we wandered towards the forest together, passing Juniper, Grover's girl friend, and the satyr elders' clearing. The forest felt empty. Usually it was filled with dreamy satyrs chasing relentlessly after gorgeous nymphs.

But at least half of the satyrs were away, collecting new recruits. The camp was filled to breaking point. All the cabins, not just Hermes' were crammed now, we'd even started planning extensions. It was great. I wish Percy could see it…

After a while we headed back to the dining area, which had also changed. Surprise! The deep gawping crack made by a younger Nico had been filled. More tables had been assembled. Everything was bigger.

Nico smiled sheepishly, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. He was looking at the place where the gorge had once been.

We sat down and breakfast passed in a daze, with Chiron announcing the usual notices and Mr D's always friendly greeting. I was about to turn around to Poseidon's table to make a comment, but I stopped mid-movement and sighed.

I filled the rest of the day with studying my laptop and trying to form a plan to keep the laurels for capture the flag with the right and deserving cabin.

This week the two-team captains were Ellie Bailey, from Hermes' cabin and I. So far Hermes' had Poseidon's, let them have it, Aphrodite's, like they're going to make a difference in a fight, Nemesis', I'm not worried, and Demeter's, still not worried, alliance. On the other hand, we did have Hades', Apollo's, Dionysus' and Gaia's, not so good memories. The rest of the minor god cabins along with Hephaestus and Ares' hadn't decided yet. We didn't have the favour in numbers so I wanted to get the support of a few minor god cabins, only few of them had any special skills, but they could fight and Hephaestus's, the biggest cabin. Chores schedules were redone shower times rearranged and soon I was in higher spirits for capture the flag.

By dinnertime the teams had been made official. Tensions ran high and everyone was sharing threats across the dining area. The teams were fairly equal in size, if you don't count the endless number of undead soldiers Nico could raise from the ground. I was still slightly uneasy though. Ares were good fighters, full stop. Plus, Demeter's kids have power over the forest where we would be 'playing'.

I hid the flag near the creek deep in the forest, fully visible but easily guarded; where Percy had once suggested.

I was half way to the enemy flag when things went wrong. One minute I was staring intently at the red flag in front of me, masked with a caduceus, murmuring instructions, the next I was crouching, covering my ears from the pain. A shrill piercing sound echoed through the forest.

The alarm bell.

Panic swept through me, sending waves of terror through my spine. I rushed to the big house, with the rest of my scout team on my tail, following my lead. I saw the cause of the mayhem before I reached Chiron. A new half-blood and a satyr escort were approaching the boundary line – closely followed by a monster, preparing to strike.

The monster was a giant serpent with a cruel hard glare and fangs hanging out of its jaw. It was the size of one of the cabins with slimy scales harder than diamond, and hundreds of blood red eyes, reminding me of our much more friendly head of security Argus. From where I stood I couldn't make out who the satyr was, but I knew that the pair needed help, and that was all I needed to know.

I led my group toward the struggling duo, made a definite signal to Chiron and charged.

They were about half a mile from the property line, from us, from safety. The satyr was armed with his reed pipes and a sword, which he shoved at the confused eleven-year-old half-blood. He swung it instinctively, but he was inexperienced. He didn't have a hope of killing or even harming the monster; he just made it angry.

We ran as fast as lightning but it felt slower. I was stuck in another dream. The one where you have to run, but your legs are stiff and can't move fast enough. The thing you have to catch is moving away, you open your mouth and try to call it back, but a ghost catches the words before they leave your mouth. You watch, in agony, as the thing, whatever you were running for, glides away from you, unaware. I pushed harder and harder, willing my feet to move faster, the image of the pair was becoming more define, we were getting closer.

We were fifty metres away when it happened. The satyr was fumbling with his reed pipes attempting to subdue the creature, but the song wasn't working. The desperate notes faded into the horizon. The beast swung its tail hard, knocking the satyr, who I now recognised as Tom, an old friend, to the floor. The blow wasn't fatal, but Tom now lay unconscious and the half-blood was left with no help and we still hadn't arrived.

The serpent span around so it could face the defenceless half-blood. Its tongue twirled in suspense preparing for the kill. Finally, we reached the scene at the bottom of the hill, and formed a tight circle around the monster. I reached to drag the half-blood away from the fight when the snake lunged. Its teeth sunk deep into his arm, spreading its deadly venom. I watched as his face exploded in pain, completely helpless

Our group made short work of the monster after he had bitten the boy. It was too late though, was my only thought as the black dust swirled back to the deepest realms of Tartarus.

Campers from Apollo's cabin swarmed around the wounded half-blood. His face was painted white and dripping with sweat. I saw the confusion and hurt in his face but I couldn't find my voice to reassure him. Even I could hear his heart beat speeding, as if trying to fit in as many beats as it could before the inevitable happened.

I turned to a camper, Joel, new last summer but a talented healer. Grief was written on his face.

"Nectar?" I asked, with little hope. I already knew the answer.

He shook his head in disgrace.

Galloping and the sound of hooves hitting the wet grass announced Chiron's arrival. I looked up half expecting to see Mr D behind him, but not really surprised when I didn't. He was probably celebrating.

He rode up to the boy lying dying in the grass. The campers comforting him scattered leaving Chiron, Joel and I to share his last moments.

The clouds themselves shook in anger as the unknown god mourned for their son.

I looked down one final time as he took his final breath and his existence slipped easily to the Underworld to meet Hades.


	2. Chapter 2

_Annabeth Chase_

**The quest opens **

Chiron's voice was calm and rung with authority when he spoke a few minutes later. I was still full of grief but so many half bloods never made it that I knew that I couldn't blame myself.

"Bring his body back to the camp and have Hermes' cabin make a shroud. Someone take Tom to the infirmary and alert all the counsellors- meeting in the Big House – now."

The Apollo campers grabbed the two bodies carefully and began staggering up the hill.

I headed up slower dragging my feet behind me, tired from the fight.

The heads of all the cabins, Chiron, Mr D, Tom and Grover were gathered in the Big House for the emergency meeting. I looked around the table, all the faces were different: Chiron looked serious and business-like; Mr D bored; Tom shivering with terror, or maybe because he had only just woken up; Grover trying without luck to reassure Tom; Ashley, daughter of Aphrodite, playing absentmindedly with a strand of her hair; Nico smiling despite the tension flaring in the room; the Stoll brothers plotting quietly among themselves; Joel, from Apollo's, hiding his face; Lizzie, Demeter's, staring dreamily at Mr D (something none of us understood); Harry, fresh from the armoury, fiddling with the hinges of the table; Pollux, unfortunate enough to be Mr D's child, drinking his juice with obvious distaste; Clarrise flexing her muscles obviously; and newly appointed Charles, cabin 3, smiling eagerly around the ping-pong table.

"Tom you did all you could," Chiron started reassuringly, "Now we need you to tell us what happened."

"You did everything," Mr D amended," I couldn't be more grateful."

Chiron ignored Mr D's comment, and motioned for Tom to begin. He let out a nervous throaty laugh then started.

"I found him in Boston, no monsters hanging around him, and I managed to persuade him to come with me to my 'family's' house in Long Island and then…"

"He just left with you?" demanded Clarrise, with a snarl, leaning across the ping-pong table.

"Shut up Clarrise," murmured several voices, stopping Clarrise from knowing who she needed to pulverise.

"I knew him before," mumbled Tom, ashamed, "So anyway the plane journey was fine – still no monsters. We got on a bus and around four miles from here that serpent thing got on the bus," his voice quavered in terror, "he knew something was wrong and I had to get him off the bus without the monster seeing. There was an emergency exit so I blurted out some information about camp half-blood and demi-gods and we jumped out. That's when things started to go really wrong." His voice slowed down, he took breaths after each word. "He knew what he was and we were attracting a lot of monsters, I took us round a few detours and then there was only the serpent following us. A mile from camp the snake had found us again. We were moving slowly, the grass was really thick." A lot of heads looked startled by this, including Mr D's (who knew he was actually listening?). No one argued. "The snake moved fast and I tried to get rid of it, but I'm no good with swords and my reed pipes weren't working." He held them up, shaking and pounding them against the table in frustration. His head dropped in shame and we all knew he was finished. We'd witnessed the next chapter: His last chapter.

The room was silent for a minute before Nico looked up and asked the question everyone was itching to ask.

"Determined or undetermined?" His voice rang around the room.

Tom raised his head slowly. His expression had changed. His eyes no longer shone with grief but he was sweating from fear.

"Determined."

Silence fell once more. The un-asked question hung in the air. We all waited.

"His name was Oliver, son of Zeus."

The storm began again.

Everybody in the room froze. All of a sudden I realised the source of Tom's fear.

Outside the storm was still brewing reflecting the emptiness of cabin 1, Zeus' deadly fury and the power of his master bolt. I mean forget to send him a birthday card, he's likely to blast you to dust, fail to save his son he's definitely going to blast you into dust.

Chiron began speaking softly to Tom, and after a while he stood up and left.

"Mr D I think you need to visit Olympus, try to sort things out."

"That won't be necessary my dear centaur – come in Malcolm."

The door creaked open and Malcolm entered hesitantly heading to Mr D and Chiron.

"I have a message from Lord Zeus." Everyone winced. Malcolm exited as quickly as he had come, and Chiron delicately opened the paper he had handed him. His eyes scanned the short message and his expression relaxed slightly.

The council however didn't relax as they searched Chiron's face for answers.

"We've found another half-blood," he said at last, "A final child of Zeus."

A new quest was opened. Jack London, son of Zeus, needed to be escorted back to camp safely. One satyr wasn't enough. It was too important. But here's the twist: Jack London lives in London, England (go figure). England meant more land to cross, more monsters to meet, and more time to get killed. A satyr was in London already, scouting, and he was relocating to keep an eye on Jack. The trio would have to collect Jack and escort him back to camp. Now that doesn't even sound easy now wait for it. Factor in that the monsters waiting to kill the three lucky campers will be exotic and new; three of them are going to have persuade the unwilling teenager to come back with them and leave his family and friends. Plus, an angry god will be waiting to zap the threesome if they fail. Wow, I can't wait to sign up!

After all this had been explained Chiron spoke again.

"It will be dangerous," (really?), "so think wisely before you sign up. I think that it should be three of the people here now; you are the most experienced in the camp, Mr D any thoughts?"

"No other than maybe we could lose I mean use more than three?"

Chiron sighed and looked around. All campers liked quests, but they all also liked being alive and having no immortal enemies. Our faces were hesitant. Frantic looks were being flung from friend to friend. Someone had to volunteer…

I love quests; I already have an immortal enemy (long story), why just have the queen when you can have the king too? I've been in a lot of life-threatening situations. But some invisible cord was restraining me. I knew the dangers and that the stakes were high but instead of feeling the anxiety and fear of everyone around me I felt a surge of adrenaline and excitement.

Grover made a hard ruffled sound unexpectedly from the corner.

"I'll go," he stammered out, "A satyr will need to be there and-"His voice cut out as I stood up. I had no idea what I was doing but I couldn't let Grover go without me. It was selfish but I needed him – he was my best friend and my only distant link to Percy.

Chiron understood my action so I wasn't forced to choke out the impossible words. Two lunatics had signed up and one more would be joining them, but who would the other be?

A black mess of hair rose from the table. His face was battling fear and pain over protectiveness and loyalty. Our last quest member had been decided.

Chiron dismissed the rest of the campers, who gave us looks of guilt and Mr D fluttered out.

The room felt empty with only the four of us. Grover, probably thinking of a way to break it to Juniper, was hovering on his stool. Chiron was fumbling uncomfortably in his magical wheel chair. The floppy dark haired figure, Nico de Angelo was tapping a fast beat with his rough fingernails.

I, Grover and Nico were about to embark on our quest together.

Skipping the thanks and congratulation, as usual, Chiron said quietly,

"It's time for you to visit the oracle."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey Everyone, I hope you're enjoying this story, please tell me what you think, even if it's not good news. This chapter checks in with our favourite new god… **

**Also I noticed I haven't done a disclaimer yet so I own nothing apart from the plot. **

**Thanks and enjoy!**

**~companion17 **

_Percy Jackson_

**Unlimited time and nothing to do**

The deep green sea was glistening in the light of the blue fire. Moss was etched into the rocks and dark purple bubbles were sprouting from towers and rising gently toward the surface.

A blazing fire was burning beside the palace as hundreds of Cyclopes carried rocks to rebuild it.

I was on my way to the south part of the palace – one of the only parts not destroyed – when I saw my little brother Tyson in the heart of the construction. He waved cheerily and came bounding over to me.

"Percy!" he exclaimed.

"Hey big guy!" I replied.

"What you doing? We're still rebuilding the palace but Daddy says it's going well so I took a break and spoke to Anna-." He was rambling and obviously hadn't thought about what he was saying as he stopped abruptly before he had even finished the word. But it didn't matter; the damage was done.

Annabeth. I completed his sentence in my head. My best friend since I was twelve. My former best friend, I made the harsh distinction mentally. Annabeth and I used to be inseparable until last August when I became a god. A god, yeah, I'm completely serious. But since then we haven't spoken. I'd tried contacting her but she blocked me.

Tyson was looking at me with big apologetic, sorrowful eyes, fidgeting uneasily.

I smiled at him with difficulty and motioned toward the place where I was heading, unable to speak. I walked away quickly and entered the palace in awe.

The walls were tall, looming above me, where lanterns were hanging containing burning hot silver fires. The corridor stretched out for miles with glass panes on one side revealing the endless misty dark ocean.

I took a turning early off the main corridor heading to the main chamber of Poseidon's council.

My journey was quick as I willed the currents to push me along, carrying me swiftly to the chamber.

The room was massive, with a ring shaped table sitting in the centre and portraits of all the council's members surrounding the room; faces that showered my childhood. The floor was lined with precious jewels and shells that shone brightly and threw beams of dancing light round the room. A crystal statue of sea creatures stood in the middle of the ring glittering in glory.

The room was silent and empty; its walls absorbed even the loudest noise as the Cyclopes worked around it. I sighed in disappointment but with an edge of relief too. I didn't want to see my all too friendly dad's wife and her son. I had wanted to see my dad though.

For the past few weeks the weather had been odd; this usually meant a god was angry or upset, making them have a tantrum and destroy major cities.

I stood staring around the room absent-minded trying to think of something to do. I could go and help Tyson and the rest of the Cyclopes, but I didn't want Tyson patronizing me about Annabeth.

The thought hit me like Zeus' master bolt. Annabeth.

Heading back to my room, I grabbed a golden drachma. The fountain was in the corner of the room and a rainbow was already flowing.

I threw the gold coin into the mess of colours and said the words I did nearly everyday:

"Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please will you help me." Let it work this time I prayed inside my head. "Annabeth Chase. Camp half-blood."

The rainbow swirled and I held my breath. In my head I saw the black hole I usually did and a painful voice chattering my hope,

"Message failed."

But it didn't appear instead I caught a flash of light and suddenly a flicker of camp half-blood appeared in front of me.

A girl in an orange top and shorts with her blonde hair tied up in a ponytail was standing by the forest. Her strong stormy grey eyes caught mine for a minute.

Her face lit up in surprise and my heart did a black flip. I couldn't believe it. How was today any different. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, so I looked again.

They weren't. It was Annabeth; solid, real life, breathing Annabeth. I opened my mouth to speak to her, to tell her everything.

Suddenly a crack shot down the image like a lightning bolt breaking the connection instantly.

I dug in my pockets desperately for another coin, but they were empty. Annabeth had disappeared as quickly as she had come. I was alone. Again.

I cursed under my breath and trudged reluctantly outside again, meeting Tyson on my way.

Our conversation was short and forced. I fumed to him about the failed message. His answers were carefully formed and constructive. Exactly what I didn't need; he was being too understanding, but I wanted him to blame me for Annabeth blanking me. But he wouldn't. He continued being too understanding, maybe that was worse? One thing he did say was that something felt different, I had seen Annabeth, which didn't usually happen; he was right.

Without any enthusiasm I joined Tyson to help with the reparations; killing time until my dad would return. I needed to speak to him more than before. I may be god but I still feel like I don't know anything. Surely he would have an answer?


	4. Chapter 4

_Annabeth Chase_

**Nico's prophecy**

The thought of going to the oracle used to scare me; the shakes of fear felt as one was creeping up the dusty stairs to the attic, dusted in cobwebs and spiders. Approaching a silent fragile skeleton covered in rusty jewels and a foot of dirt. Surrounded by a thick mist and hearing the terrifying words of your fate without knowing where they're coming from or what they mean?

The oracle (like a lot of things) changed last summer. Delphi's spirit welcomed a new mortal host. Rachael Elizabeth Dare. Fear still tickled my spine but the experience wasn't so bad. I laughed as I remembered my first encounter with our oracle…

I was heated with anger and jealously as we walked toward the art museum. She was standing outside of it dressed completely in gold, a true symbol to the god of prophecy, Apollo. We needed her help with my quest, but I didn't want it. Then she walked us into an ambush and nearly got us killed so the average meeting.

These days the oracle doesn't stay cramped like a bat in the dusty attic. Chiron and Apollo donated an amazing room in the Big House to her. A whole wall sized painting of New York lined one wall, hundreds of other canvases, empty and filled, were scattered in the room, and she had Apollo's dream gaming zone, with a forty inch plasma.

Luckily for me Nico volunteered to lead the quest and he scampered away to hear his first prophecy. I tapped my fingers impatiently, waiting for him to return. I thought about the quest.

I'd never been to Europe before (at least not consciously – the Labyrinth lead everywhere) so I was really excited.

An eternity passed and Nico finally returned. Chiron asked and always completely honest Nico opened his mouth and recited the words:

"Journey to the east and the end

Receive help from a long lost friend,

Find all that you are looking for

But beware; take care, there is more

One lost in the land of the dead

Fail or succeed? Tears shall be shed."

Nico waited as Grover, Chiron and I digested his words. Our thoughts mirrored each other's. We'd go to England save Jack but it wouldn't be enough and one of us wouldn't come back.

Grover gulped frightened and Nico gave us both an apologetic grimace. It wasn't his fault though and there was nothing anyone could do. We had to do the quest. Controlling prophecies never worked, so why try?

No one knew what to say, not even Chiron. The meaning was clear. Finally,

"It sounds like we succeed and save Jack which is good. Let's just stay out of the Underworld." Or one of us will die. The words hung in the tense air. His words had been loud, and we all heard the logic in them. Nico looked around searching for a confirmation that he had been heard. I nodded and smiled weakly. This prophecy was no worse than any of the others I had heard:

"You shall go west and face the god who has turned…."

"You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone…"

"Five shall go west to the goddess in chains…"

"You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze…"

"A half-blood of the eldest gods…"

All five had come true in the end, but in different ways. Prophecies had hidden meanings, and I prayed that this one also did. I couldn't bear losing Grover or Nico.

"Nico's right. Don't worry about the prophecy – it can't be controlled," said Chiron at last, "Go get ready." He gestured out of the room and we hurried out.

The walk back was uneasy and stressed. Nico soon left the group taking a detour before his cabin, to the bathroom, probably to be sick. Grover followed suit shortly afterward heading toward the forest to find Juniper. I was left alone.

I continued down the gentle slope, knowing I didn't need to hurry.

Suddenly, a ring of vapour appeared in front of me. Swirling the image became less blurred. Standing in front of me was Percy.

My mind exploded. I was so surprised I couldn't speak. The breath was knocked out of me; all I could do was staring at him. Months had passed since I'd seen him last. His face lit up in surprise too. Which was odd, he'd sent the message, why would he be surprised to see me?

I didn't have time to ponder the point. It was rushing away insanely fast. I saw him open his mouth to say…

He disappeared. The connection was broken. He was gone.

Cabin 5 was empty when I entered eventually, everyone else were enjoying the last part of the campfire. I gathered my stuff hurriedly, stuffed it into a backpack and dropped on my bed. I had a change of clothes, my baseball cap, armour and my new knife. It was I needed, that I could pack.

The pain didn't leave me, as I got ready. It continued to strike at me, teasing me, willingly me to let it take over. Finally I did. It submerged me, leaving me gasping for breath.

Percy had tried to contact me, but why?

"To hurt you more," whispered a voice inside my head. I battled with the voice but couldn't find a way to defend the action. It had been so long, I had even seen the change in his features. He looked older, more withered. Struggling still, I hung onto something. Something was wrong. Neither of us had broken the connection. Someone else had.

With those thoughts I drifted into a troubled sleep.

_I stood in the corner of the golden chamber. It was empty except for a solitary figure. It was a tall beautiful woman. She was pacing around the room relentlessly, her flowery robe flowing on the ground. Her movement was stuttered. _

_With a deafening crack and a whirl of smoke another figure appeared. _

"_It worked my Lord; his friends are on their way."_

_The woman's voice was quiet, almost fearful. _

"_Good work."_

The words faded with the dream. The picture had been fuzzy, but I had a suspicion that I knew the pair.

Soon I had slipped into other dreams that made more sense.


	5. Chapter 5

_Annabeth Chase _

**Why's everyone looking at me?**

The van was racing down the deserted highway on its way to the airport, carrying Grover, Nico and I. The countryside rushed past as we sped away from camp. The sun was just rising in the sky, and Nico yawned again. It was six o'clock in the morning and we were all draped in tiredness. Our flight was leaving in two hours. Chiron had booked us tickets on the first flight possible, Jack was in danger as long as he was outside of camp. Argus, our many-eyed head of security was driving us to the airport, and then we were on our own.

The three of us sat in the back of the van, Grover sitting in the middle, twitching every so often. Nico's head was leaning against the window, his eyes threatening sleep. My mind was back on last night's dream.

"Hey guys I've got to tell you something," I said hesitantly, probably being over dramatic. Grover turned his head to me at once and Nico rose with blinding speed, and even Argus sent one of his eyes in my direction. Their faces were painted with worry.

"It's nothing bad, I just had a strange dream last night."

I quickly went over the dream, repeating every detail I could remember. I was certain I knew the characters and I hoped Grover or Nico could give me some clues about who they were and what they were talking about.

"What was she wearing, exactly?" asked Grover, with a trace of hope in his eyes.

"A long gown, with flowers and leaves, golden shoes and a silver necklace," I said, mentally ticking off the items.

Grover was thoughtful for a minute, and then he finally said,

"It could have been Demeter. Your description sounds like her."

I pondered this, Grover would know better then the rest of us what Demeter was like, she was the god of the harvest, and he was a Lord of the Wild.

"Then maybe the man was Hades?" Nico suggested. Our looks were startled, so he continued quickly, "Demeter spends on lot of time in the Underworld, because of Persephone."

I'm not sure why but I knew that it hadn't been Hades in my dream. Nico looked slightly crest-fallen, but soon he was deep in thought.

"Well it was probably a god so…" Nico stared logically, "Do you think it was a minor god?" I shook my head, I didn't know why but the answers were coming from me, without me realising that I knew them, yet I was sure they were right.

"Well that leaves Apollo, Poseidon, Hermes, Ares, Hephaestus, Dionysus and Zeus," continued Grover quickly, eager to find out whom it was, "If you're sure it wasn't Hades?"

"Zeus!" I exclaimed at last. "It was Zeus and Demeter."

Grover and Nico smiled, but then trouble returned to their eyes.

"What were they talking about?" they whispered in unison.

"I don't know," I sighed, "They only things I heard were 'It worked my Lord his friends are on their way' and 'Good work'."

"Maybe they were talking about something that we don't know about, something that doesn't matter."

We were all stumped. The suggestion didn't fit. Half bloods' dreams are always weird, but they are also always concerning something big and something the half blood knows about. I had to figure this out.

"Maybe they were talking about this quest and Jack." My words were quiet, as if I didn't mean for them to be heard; just an errant thought.

Grover and Nico both raised their heads. It made sense and they knew it, but they didn't want me to be right.

"Yeah that makes sense, they were talking about Jack. We're his friends and we're on our way to rescue him and Zeus would like that because Jack's his son." The words were rushed and slurred as the flowed out of Nico's mouth. He was talking quickly, trying to convince himself and much as the rest of us.

I looked at Grover and he smiled, wanting to believe Nico's words. Our conversation had ended. I wanted to believe Nico's words as well, and my sudden sense of knowing had vanished so I smiled too. They turned to gaze out of the window again. I could see the airport in the distance, blurry and small. The sun had risen and light was flooding in the window. We were nearly there.

We made it to the airport, with loads of time to spare, and headed to our gate. We sat down we had fifteen minutes until the flight would be boarding.

Nico sat down and pulled something out of his bag and started reading it. Grover was sniffing the air for monsters, and although it wasn't helping the camp's rule to try to stay inconspicuous it made my heart slow down. I flicked through the tickets, bored. The seats caught my eye: 26 F, 27 F and 12 J. I gasped. We couldn't sit together.

I quickly pointed this out to my friends.

"One of us has to sit alone," I said.

"I will," we all spoke at the same time. At once, their faces turned to me, waiting patiently for 'Wise Girl' to make the decision.

"Well it has to be me or Grover," I said slowly, thinking it through. Nico opened his mouth to protest, but I stopped him. "You look to young to be flying alone." I paused again, cursing them for making me make the choice. Who would I leave vulnerable and on their own? "Grover I think you should have this ticket." I handed him 12J. "You have the best smell, you'll no if there's a," I mouthed the word monster. "If you smell anything even remotely suspicious come and find us, then we have to stick together no matter what. Nico and I will need to stay together, because then if there is," I stumbled on the word 'monster', unable to form it, "we can defend each other. Okay?" I asked.

They thought about it for a minute, and then nodded.

The monster problem was still an issue though and eventually we agreed that after we were allowed to board then Grover would take my invisibility hat and examine everyone who boarded. Nico and I would wait at the bottom of the steps to the plane, letting everyone file past, pretending to be looking for our friend behind us. When Grover finished he'd tell us if there was one, if so all three of us take the two seats (I figured out that they were two seats together separate from any others) one of us would be invisible. If not we'd go in all three seats, for safety.

Ten minutes later we passed the airhostesses and Grover put on my cap. Nico and I walked toward the plane. I was having second thoughts. The hat wouldn't make him undetectable. What if a monster smelt him or heard him? Nico was silent as we waited at the bottom of the steps. We stood together, worry painted on our faces for the benefit of everyone around us. I filed the faces passing me, wondering if any of them were a monster. But no one gave us a second glance, so relaxed a bit.

In time Grover appeared smiling and shaking his head at our questioning looks. We smiled back and swiftly sped up the stairs and took our seats.

The journey was slow. I was on edge the whole time. I trusted Grover fully, but I had a feeling something was going to go wrong. I couldn't relax enough to read or watch a film so I just stared out the window. Beside me Nico was silent engrossed in the same book as before. I leaned my head against the window and my tiredness overwhelmed me. I slid into unconsciousness.

My sleep was dreamless, but too soon I was being shaken awake.

I opened my eyes; Nico was crouched above me shaking my body furiously. I rose at once, panicking because his eyes were full of dread.

"Monster?" I asked. He shook his head. I looked around everyone had the same fearful looks on their faces'. This problem wasn't just ours. There was a sudden jolt and I winced, the flight was bumpy and I looked outside the window.

The plane was plummeting down with lightning speed, the blazing sun becoming further and further away and the menacing green surface of the sea was rising to meet us. Hitting the water at this speed from this height would be like jumping onto solid tar.

I understood the problem at once; the source of everyone's trauma was revealed. And there was nothing I could do.

The plane was crashing.

_Sorry about the cliff hanger! Enjoy! _


	6. Chapter 6

_This one is from Percy's point of view, we haven't checked in with him in a while!_

_Disclaimer: I own only the plot. _

_Please tell me what you think…_

_Enjoy _

_Percy Jackson _

**It doesn't matter**

"Percy, what are you doing here?" Poseidon was bent low over a map and had hardly looked up when I entered.

"What's happening on Olympus?" I demanded. He couldn't deny anything; it was obvious something was wrong, even to me.

The god was motionless for a few moments.

"Zeus is angry with Hermes. His half-blood children keep perishing, after he's claimed them, and satyrs start searching for them."

"Hermes?" I could hear the stupidity in my voice. Being a god doesn't help your knowledge apparently.

"You remember the oath Hermes' forced on all the gods last August."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I sounded like a whiney kid.

"It is unimportant."

"Have the gods taken sides?"

Poseidon froze, I knew the worse.

"Not yet, three heroes are on a quest now to save Zeus' last child: Jack London. If they succeed," I heard doubt in his voice, "the gods will not be forced to take sides and Hermes' oath will remain."

'It is unimportant'. His pointless word rang in my ears. Hermes had put a barrier between Olympus and another attack like last august. His pact was simple, but effective, with just three main parts:

One, all heroes must be claimed by their twelfth birthday.

Two, Hades' children must have a cabin at camp half-blood, and Hades must have a throne on Olympus.

Three, the minor gods (Hectate, Nemesis etc.) must have cabins at camp half blood, if necessary.

"Who are the heroes?"

"Grover Underwood, Annabeth Chase and Nico de Angelo." The voice that spoke the words was plain and flat as if they meant nothing. They drove into me like a knife leaving me breathless. "Where's Zeus kid?" I asked through barred teeth.

The water around us shook violently, an echo of thunder sounded around the room.

"You should be more respectful Percy," Poseidon warned, "Jack lives in London, why?" His tone was suspicious.

No reason, I wanted to say but the words wouldn't form. They were trapped in my mouth. I managed a shrug then twisted around, trying to gather myself. If Jack didn't come back safely, Zeus would blame the trio. My dad, like a lovable parent, ignored me, and resumed looking at the map.

"There's something else," I admitted quietly, he looked up; I quickly explained about my Iris message to Annabeth.

"Someone on her side may have broken the connection. She could be ignoring you, and broken it herself. Put it out of your mind. It doesn't matter."

It took all of my self-control to hold my ground. Anger shook my body; my hands balled into fists; the water around me fizzed excitedly.

I spun round and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind me.

'It is unimportant', 'it doesn't matter'. The harsh words rang in the endless corridor. He had no idea, no one did. Around me the water boiled and the door to the ocean shone with glee, taunting me. Leaving would be so easy.

When i changed, became a god, it made a lot of things different. I had unlimited time, superhuman strength, amazing powers but it didn't change who my friends were. Annabeth, Grover and Nico mattered to me.

I headed to the door. An invisible hand gripped me. I was restrained by the ancient rules. No involvement in human quests. It felt weird thinking that; I didn't feel like wasn't human anymore. But rules are made to be broken. Hermes, Apollo, Hera and probably others that I didn't realise had helped me on my quests. No 'direct' involvement. The distinction was microscopic but it made a difference. The grip on me loosened. I knew what I had to do. The current obeyed me, propelling my body to the exit.

The water was dark and dense. Monsters and animals glowed in my vision.

I'd always had special abilities in water, but now it was different. I could sense every organism in the sea. If someone walking on a beach in Spain dipped his or her toe in the sea I could tell. Pretty cool, huh?

That's when it started. Rubble and bits of metal were pelting the surface, like pebbles, sinking deep into the water. I concentrated hard.

It was a plane crash. I sighed. I could do nothing – no involvement. People surviving a plane crash would be pretty suspicious. I tried to ignore it, but it was impossible. I was carried there in my mind, into the centre of the chaos.

The scene was horrific. The plane was on fire. People that were still alive and conscious were screaming; others had already faded. Just just the sight pained my eyes. I was about to take myself away when I saw a satyr. I took a double take.

His hair curled above his head, revealing horns, a hat floated next to him, a hat I recognised. It was Grover, which meant Annabeth and Nico were here as well; they were on their quest.

Instinctively, I called for Rainbow and some of his friends. Instantly, three animals appeared in front of me. I sent two of them to look for Annabeth and Nico, praying they would find them in time. I did a quick incantation, the animals shone with a new green light, and sped away quicker than before. The third chased toward Grover. To hell with no involvement, I thought as I raced behind it.

Grover was lying with eyes open, gasping for breath, I turned invisible, as much as I wanted to speak with him, and I knew he couldn't know that I had helped. The creature was an inch away before Grover noticed it. He raised his arms; one hand held his reed pipes and stood up straight. That's when I saw it. He was standing up straight in the middle of the ocean; I looked beneath him and saw a ladder of plants and seaweeds. He had saved himself. I stared at the web in admiration. He slid onto the creature, thankfully praying to the gods, for it. I sighed in relief that he was okay, before whistling for Rainbow and his other friend.

Rainbow and the two others reunited, and I saw two other figures resting on the creatures' backs. Nico and Annabeth were safe. I turned away, staying only long enough to see that Grover had found the others and quickly telling Rainbow where to go. I knew if I stayed too long, I wouldn't stay invisible, I would talk to Annabeth, and the mystery of the help would be solved and I would be I trouble.

I groaned and disappeared from the scene.


	7. Chapter 7

_Just like to say a massive thank you to my reviewers, comments are much appreciated! Enjoy this..back to Annabeth's point of view… _

_Annabeth Chase_

**Deja vous**

I could not believe my eyes when I woke up. First of all I was alive or the Underworld had been redecorated. Second, Grover and Nico were on either side of me, as far as I could see also alive. Thirdly, and the most bizarre thing: we were speeding through the water, spraying fresh waves of water on three hippocampi that were glowing with a turquoise light and gliding in the sea at an impossible speed.

I looked over at my companions, trying to figure out what had happened. Their eyes were shut tight. We had been in the plane, we had been crashing, and the sea had been rising around us. The images flashed through my mind, but there was nothing else other than a flicker of turquoise light shining into the corner of my eyes and then I had woken up to this.

Someone must have saved us. Grover and Nico were both asleep but it could have been them. But then again it's unlikely, not many people had the power to save people from a disaster like that. Except for one.

Receive help from a long lost friend.

The line from the prophecy popped into my head. Maybe this had been our help, but a long lost friend, didn't rule out the gods.

I'd once been very close to joining the hunters and I had been again very recently, I knew Artemis, well, but I wouldn't say she was a close friend. Athena, my mom, made more sense, but for some reason I didn't think that that was right. Hermes was another possibility, I wasn't sure.

I stopped thinking for a minute, listening to the soft movement of the water, and glancing up at the hidden sun. The clouds were threatening rain, the gods were still angry. We were running out of time. The salty air rushed into my lungs filling me with delight, and again I saw the flash of light, from my memory…

Falling through the air. Uncontrollable. Helpless. Waiting for the inevitable. Knowing that there was no way out, no plan to form. Staring a glance at Nico, who was bent down low, stealing his last glances at his book? I remember looking at the water rising below me, an anticipated and unwanted greeting waiting to spring. I close my eyes, not wanting to see the destruction, but I can't close my ears. I can hear the screams of pain, the children crying. My eyes close, I lose consciousness. I can see my body in the plane; I'm hovering above it, detached, escaping the pain. Then suddenly I see a flash of colour in the mass of red and black: Turquoise. Then the blackness engulfed me.

I remember that colour, and I saw it again then. It hung below me, like a halo, around the creature I was riding. I remember that exact colour again, lying, tucked away in a memory I never dare to think about, to relive, except in my dreams, in my nightmares.

The scene where Percy left me, rushes past my barriers and I absorb it. His skin lights up, for a final time, I see him and my heart explodes again, surprising me that there's anything left of it.

The prophecy was right, as always, and I knew who had helped us. It was Percy.

The knowledge didn't comfort me though. It words terrified me. 'Lost'. He was gone. And, the prophecy had been right, what more could it have gotten correct. What would happen in England? 'One lost in the land of the dead'. The worries that had been taunting me began to eat at me again.

Thankfully, that was when Grover's eyelids began to flutter open. His eyes opened, and he began to fidget abruptly, disorientated. I smiled at him, and he gave me a questioning look.

I pointed to Nico, and Grover took out his reed pipes and started to play at an immense volume. Nico was awake in an instant, and I laughed. He nearly fell off his hippocampus but in no time Nico and Grover were both waiting for my explanation. Wise girl, remember?

"Percy." It was all that I could say, I couldn't admit to them my weird sense of intuitiveness again nor could I tell them about the memories. They had been locked away again, I couldn't dare to think about them, and so speaking about them was way off limits.

Nico looked completely caught off guard, but Grover's face was more thoughtful.

"That makes sense, I think you're right. I mean it fits the prophecy and I think I could sense him." His voice trailed off at the end, his face was having second thoughts about saying what he had just said. But I nodded, to him. I had sensed it to; I'd just needed proof.

"Okay, that's good but what are we going to do now, anyone know where we are?"

"No," I turned to Grover again, trying to find an answer to Nico's question.

"I'll get my reed pipes and try to find out."

"Ok that's good, I think were slowing down."

I could feel our speed decreasing and just in the distance I saw the shallow shore emerging in the misty horizon. I looked down at my watch but then realised it had broken in the water, so all I could tell from the sky that it was some time in the afternoon. At that moment I felt a weird surge of deja vous. I could remember escaping from the depths of the Underworld with my two best friends and being dumped off the coast of LA. I smiled thinking about the tradition that was occurring, hopefully it wouldn't happen again.

The hippocampi halted several metres from the shore; the water was too shallow for them. We thanked them, and I sent a silent prayer to Percy, and then they dove into the underwater realm and disappeared from view.

Eventually, after our struggle to the shore we collapsed on the beach. Our situation had become more desperate after the creatures left and we realised how much had been lost or ruined during our unplanned dive. Nico and I had lost our bags, and Grover's was soaked with water; our only money had been wrecked and the few golden drachmas were managed to scrape together wouldn't help us at all.

Helpless. The word hung in the air above us, waiting threateningly.

Grover set up his rocks in the sand, to try and find out where we were and I sat with him. Nico disappeared back into the sea for a while.

After Grover had finished an ear splitting song, the pebbles had formed a new shape that I still couldn't understand.

Apparently, our kind friends had taken us to the Dover coast only a couple of hours from our destination: London. We were nearly there, so close. But we had a couple of problems: no money, and no more friendly creatures to bring us to London.

"So what are we going to do?"

"I have no idea; maybe we should talk to Chiron…"

"There's nothing he can do."

"Any fancy ideas then Annabeth?"

"Nope," I exaggerated popping the 'P', "any poodles hidden up your sleeve this time?"

Nico came running up to us, his clothes dripping wet, but his face lit up in exhilaration.

"I don't know about any poodles, but I found this when I was swimming just now." In his hand he held a small coin; its edges were frayed and the sliver hadn't started to fade, with rust taking its place, but I understood in an instant.

"It's a mule," he said, triumphantly, "I used to collect coins, Bianca used to like them, it was really fun. This one's not very rare it quite common but I think it'll buy us enough to get to London, but I'm not sure how we'll get back, we lost our tickets." His voice was rambling again because he was so excited.

I leaped up in pure pleasure smiling at him in glee. We had our way to London sorted; we'd have to wait to find our way back.


	8. Chapter 8

_**So I just wanted to mention that I hope you've enjoyed the frequency of updates recently but they will probably be slowing down now, exams are fast approaching I'm afraid… Anyway I'm sure you have all been curious about Mr Jack London, our new half blood and so I thought we'd check in with him this chapter…**_

_**Please review and thank you to the lovely people who have! Enjoy…. **_

_**Companion17**_

_Jack London _

**Yeah, right, sure I believe you**

The sun was beating hard into the dark classroom. My head was resting on my books like a pillow, struggling to keep my eyes and attention on board in front on me. It wasn't just that the lesson was completely boring (as it was) but because of my ADHD and dyslexia.

I was busy flicking tiny scarps of paper over my desk, as the teacher continued. I was so completely bored, and itching to annoy Samantha Dowding, who was sitting in front of me. Her head was raised and her up was waiting to spring up into the air, she's such a know-it-all. I resisted the temptation, I was close to being suspended, again, sigh. Plus, I had detention already that night. I wasn't too fussed about it to be honest, but Dylan, my best mate, was oddly annoyed and agitated by it.

I turned around in my seat, to look at him. He was carelessly doodling on his textbook, looking up occasionally. I caught his eye and smiled. He was tall for our year, had an unfortunate case of acne, and always wore a baseball cap indoors.

I looked up at the clock again, for the billionth time that lesson. I mean we were making history it was so boring! Eventually the bell went and we all stood at once and rushed out of the classroom at top speed. I waited for Dylan to catch up (he has a knee problem so can't run) so we could head back to house together.

School was finished for the day, and inside my head the hallelujah chorus was sounding. Everything was finished except for my detention then I was headed into town with Dylan and some other friends and then off for a week on half-term.

A few minutes later I was lined up outside the classroom with a few books, to attempt some of my masses of homework. Everything was normal for my hour of 'quiet time', I didn't manage to complete any of my work, but I was used to that.

I took an odd detour on my way to meet Dylan, to grab some books I left outside a class, when I heard raspy voices emerging from Mr 'Fire Breath' Bell's office.

"He's still here, we still have time." The voice was demanding and I could swear I heard a slithering of a snake.

"No, we cannot risk it here. We must wait until the boy moves away from the school. He is going out with his friends now, his detention has just finished."

"Jack is too important…" The rest of the sentence was cut off by a gesture that I didn't see. I gulped, controlling the dread I felt. They were talking about me! I had just had a detention; I was about to go to town; I was the Jack.

As carefully as possible I extended my arm and silently pushed the rusty door open to see who was in the room. Sure enough it was my two least favourite teachers in the entire school. 'Fire Breath' Bell and Burgess, I even cringed as I thought the name, who gave me the detention.

"But if we fail…" Bell began.

"Failure is not an option." He was cut off in an instant. Bell nodded as Burgess corned him and cowered over him. The idea was funny, Burgess a little toad like woman towering over a six foot man, but in reality I was soaked in sweat from the fear.

"We shall wait for him to come."

With those final words echoing in my ears I sprinted away from the office, forgetting completely about my books, and ran head first into Dylan, who was looking as anxious as me.

"What's wrong?" he asked at once, reading my expression.

"Nothing," I managed shrugging. He wouldn't believe a word I said anyway. I was already branded with ADHD and dyslexia I didn't need to be landed with hallucinations and stuck in the mad house as well.

He didn't buy it at all, but he dismissed the fact I didn't want to say,

"Well it looks like it's just us. The others said they couldn't come."

I shrugged again and frowned but then I gestured for us to start walking. We walked in silence down a couple of streets; I was too freaked to speak before Dylan turned to me and said in a fear filled voice,

"Was it Burgess and Bell?"

I stopped and stared at him for a while. How could he have known?

"There's something I have to tell you, come on, in here." He dragged me into the Starbucks and we sat down, "Look when I'm saying this, don't interrupt, you've got to believe me, please remember that." His voice was desperate, pleading with me.

"Ok, your 'teachers' they're monsters. You need to get away from here. Now. Three friends of mine our on their way here: Annabeth, Nico and Grover. There'll be here soon and we're meeting them just down the road outside the cinema. As soon as they get here we need to leave, we're going to go to somewhere called 'Camp Half-Blood'. You'll be safe there."

I looked at him completely stunned, but I believed him. It was impossible to miss the sincerity in his eyes. Unfortunately, it didn't make it any easier for me to know what to do. Actually it made it a whole lot harder. I wanted more than anything to say something like: "How gullible do you think I am?" But I couldn't.

"Why me? I haven't done anything," I finally stammered.

"It's not what you've done; it's who you are; who your parents are."

I looked at him and anger bubbled through me. No one mentioned my parents. Ever. My dad abandoned my mum when she was pregnant with me, turned out he never even gave her the right name. She was heart broken, and just after I was born she gave me to her brother and committed suicide. My uncle and aunt were great, still are, but I never liked anyone talking about my parents in front of me. I hated them both: my dad for leaving my mum; and my mum for leaving me.

He seemed to realise what I was thinking and opened his mouth to speak again.

"Your dad's still alive."

Like I care, I wished I could say. But I did. I needed to know what had happened all those years ago, before I was born. I wanted to know who my father was, what he did, what sort of guy he was.

"Jack, you're a half-blood."

**No prizes for guessing half-what… **


	9. Chapter 9

_**Hey Everyone, hope you enjoy this chapter… **_

_Annabeth Chase _

**We're on the way**

Everything was set; we were waiting at the bus stop, tickets in hand, about to board on to our vessel to London. The earlier rain's puddles scattered over the ground and I looked down at my watch again. We had another 25 minutes until the bus was due to leave then a two-hour bus journey. The time would pass with ease and yet I still felt uneasy; the journey would be quick, but would it be quick enough? The question rang in my ears. We stood alone at the bus stop so it was okay to talk.

I turned and looked at Nico, cuddled up on the seat hugging his knees to warm himself up and Grover, pacing rhythmically up and down the pavement. I dug the golden drachma out of my pocket and flicked it. It landed with a thud on the soaked pavement, the goddess Iris smiling up at us.

"Do you think we can risk a message to Jack and Dylan," I asked, not even sure what answer I was hoping for.

Grover and Nico both looked up, the faces painted white with anxiety and they nodded. We all nipped into the deserted bus station and set up our message.

"Goddess Iris, please accept out offering. Dylan Stone, London."

The image swirled round in a stream of colours before finally coming into focus on to boys sitting in a Starbucks. We all instantly recognised Dylan: his crutches leaning beside the chair, the familiar baseball hat at an angle on his head, and an uncharacteristic grave expression on his face.

He looked down at his table and caught sight of us, shining at him from the circular table surface. He made a quick sharp 'don't say anything' gesture to the boy sitting opposite him: Jack.

He had brilliant blue eyes and almost white blonde hair framing his face. I half-expected him to fall out of his seat when he saw our image but he sat still on his chair. A perfect act, meaning one thing: he knew.

Dylan nodded apologetically, reading our thoughts.

"I had to tell him; no choice."

I smiled, we all did. At this point it didn't matter. So far the quest couldn't have gone more wrongly. The fates were obviously against us on this one.

"We should be there soon, around two hours." Dylan's face suddenly turned green with fear. He was hiding something else.

"I thought your flight got in just now," he said, looking at his watch, then at us, pleading.

"Change of plan. It's a long story. Two hours is the best we can do. Is something wrong?" Are there monsters? I didn't dare ask the question. If people started to worry they made mistakes and we could not afford mistakes. Being Athena's daughter had taught me a few things at least.

Eventually, Dylan nodded thoughtfully and said,

"Okay but be a quick as you can we'll meet as planned."

We all nodded and Grover wiped through the screen cutting the connection and we ran back to the loading bus and caught three seats at the back.

The bus was pretty much empty and we set off on schedule. Grover grabbed my cap 'went to the bathroom' and checked for any monsters. He came back with a negative answer but there hadn't been any monsters on the plane when everything went downhill so the news didn't make me feel any better.

We sat on the back row together, ready for the next two hours that were sure to be agonizing. I leaned against the window staring down the aisle. My panic was overwhelming me and the slow proceeding of the bus wasn't helping. The oracles words were seeping deeper into my thoughts. _You shall_ _receive help from a long lost friend. _The plane had crashed but we'd survived. The chances of that were so small so we must have been helped.

I sat thinking about it for a long time, completely still, shying away from my one answer, the only possibility. It had to be a good thing that it was certain; nothing else was capable of such a feat. The most likely people would be one of our parents, Hades or Athena, but again I had a feeling that they hadn't saved us. Zeus was the only other mild possibility, saving us so we would save his son. But he wouldn't dare help us when we were so deep into Poseidon's realm. That left only one other chance.

_A long lost friend: _Percy.

I felt a rush of warmth and security and the touch of a hand on my shoulder, I leant into yearning for his presence, the mere memory of his smile and laugh awakening butterflies in my stomach. I was right. But the happiness soon faded.

Knowing didn't make me feel any better. Not really. The hole left in my chest hadn't been filled. I grasped at my chest, a pointless effort to bring myself together, but a piece was gone. The hole was still gaping open, tearing more and more of me with it.

I couldn't understand what had happened, but I still knew that I was right. Percy might have just saved us, for his best friend Grover or maybe to help the quest succeed. He hadn't done it for me, or he wouldn't be refusing to talk to me.

Although, there had been that IM just before we left, the one where the connection had been broken, where he had contacted me. Just a cruel joke: Opening the hole again, refusing to allow me to heal.

Grover was sitting up alert next to me, sniffing the air nonchalantly and Nico was lying down beside him. Sleep was probably a good idea, but sleep meant dreams and nightmares. I knew it was the wise thing to do so I closed my eyes trying to clear my mind a slipped into an uneasy sleep…

The palace where I stood glowed with a turquoise aura and deep rare shells lined the walls. For a while I stood there in awe, admiring the architecture of the building until I heard a splash of water near me and turned to search for the cause of it.

I headed up the long passageway, each section mirroring the previous exactly, embedding me in an endless maze. The voice I followed was familiar, but it danced in front of me, always evading my grasp.

I knew the voice. I knew the dream. Even during it, I recognised the scene. I knew what was going to happen. I had been expecting it. I always did. The pain and emptiness would hit me just as hard though.

But the dream drifted from its course, I had escaped from the endless alleyway. A branch had taken of it and I followed the cloaked figure of the voice down into a circular chamber.

He knelt down beside a golden fountain of sea creatures and threw something that escaped my eyes, into the rainbow. Then he spoke again, when I was close, but not the normal words. He spoke my name, almost like a prayer or a wish.

The rainbow spiralled for a few moments, as his words echoed in my skull, and then at once a lightning streak appeared in the middle of the assortment of colours, breaking the screen as it did my heart.

The nightmare was different, but the pain was the same, exactly like it had been from the first day: the sudden intense pain bursting from the newly reopened gap in me; the sides spreading outwards, swinging helplessly around the edges; the sudden realisation that he's gone; the final snap of the cord that bound us together.

My body was shaking, and tears were running down my face when I reopened my eyes. I hung desperately to the difference, but at the same time it scared me, I couldn't understand it.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Hey Everyone, we've hit the big one-oh (Chapter 10) ! I know some of you are hoping to see Percy again, and don't worry he will be back next chapter and some Percabeth too : ) Returning to Jack now to see how he's taking the news…(Disclaimer: Chapter title from Disney's Hercules – great song !) Enjoy and review please and thank you **_

_**~Companion 17 **_

_Jack London_

**Zero to Hero**

I choked back a laugh. That was stupid. It didn't make sense. A half-blood? Half human and half what? Dylan face stared at mine apologetically. I wanted to shout back at him that he was wrong; that I wasn't who he thought I was. A strange sensation of memories flooded my mind: unexplained conspicuous coincidences, moments that had never made sense.

Eventually I regained the ability to talk and even when I was speaking the words I feared to Dylan I knew that I already knew that answer and always had.

"Half boy, half what?"

"God."

That one single word echoed round us, hovering between us for a few seconds.

'Half boy, half god, all hero.' It sounded like something out of a storybook, a legend, or a myth.

After the prolonged pause Dylan started talking again and it was like I was back at school in classics. The things he said were myths, the Greek gods. I had heard various details of it before; I had even drifted to sleep listening, intently of course. This time I stayed right awake, not even daring to blink. That was my life now. I was a character in those myths. A single detail might keep me alive for one more second.

His synopsis was brief and too the point. And he definitely made one point at least very clear: we needed to go.

According to his friends they were going to be here in around an hour and a half and according to Dylan we needed to keep moving.

As soon as Dylan stopped talking we marched out of the shop and scurried up the road. We walked at a tremendous pace, and I was astounded by Dylan's speed because of his apparent 'knee-problem'. I choose not to mention it and we continued dodging around strangers, walking around in circles trying to mix up my scent so Bell and Burgess wouldn't find us.

After an hour of our around the city marathon I was completely exhausted. I needed to stop; surely Burgess and Bell wouldn't be able to find us?

I called for Dylan to stop and he agreed that we could make a quick break and we both slumped down on the grass. Burgess and Bell wouldn't be able to find us, our scent was everywhere, untraceable; or so we thought. How wrong can a person be?

The cry was deafening and it was unmistakably from the sky. A great shadow fell over the park we sat in. Everyone's head turned to the sky simultaneously. A great black mass was hovering above us. The beast's wings spread the width of the park and its head was twisting slowly scanning for its prey. It was in no rush, nothing could out run it. Suddenly, its posture changed; it arched it back and lifted its wings, preparing to dive. The search was over.

Dylan made a mad scramble for his bag and quickly started to search the contents of it. He pulled out a set of pipes and began to play just as the giant beast began to descend from the air in a fierce deadly dive.

The music was harsh and horrible but from the grass beneath us weeds and vines began to sprout through the surface and the monster was caught in the undergrowth. It fought against the strength of the weeds like they were animals rather than plants. As he played Dylan dragged me at full speed across the park and down another small street. We were getting closer to the main city now and I couldn't understand why no one else in the park had noticed the monster, but now wasn't the time to be asking questions.

"Those vines should keep your old teacher Mr Bell subdued for a while but Burgess is still out there, you'll need this," he gently pulled something out of his bag and handed it to me.

The package was odd and I undid the wrapping and a light glistening sword was revealed. I weighed it steadily in my hand and something clicked. It felt right. Instinctively I swung it the movement was almost graceful. I nodded to Dylan loosely wrapped the sword up again, so no one would be alarmed if they saw it.

I still couldn't believe my teachers were monsters but after seeing that flying thing I didn't want to see Burgess even more than usual, and I didn't know that that was possible.

Unfortunately I didn't have to wait long. Dylan and I had walked into a nicely prepared trap. We caught in the middle of a market square. The flying beast, also known as Mr Bell, had escaped the vines that had imprisoned him and was now sitting on a park bench in human form as if he was expecting us. The scene reminded me sickly of one of those spy films. In those the good guy always won, unfortunately this was real.

As I turned around, searching for an exit I caught sight of Burgess for the first time. It was a giant serpent, with red eyes glistening. Its expression mirrored the one that was always painted on Mrs Burgess' face, a sinister smile. She knew we were trapped; their plan had worked.

I might as well let them have their fun, I thought, walking proudly to Mr Bell, not allowing any of the fear that was nestled in my stomach seep out. They would smell the fear easily and then I'd have no chance.

"Mr Bell fancy seeing you here?"

"Well Jack I do enjoy some fresh air once in a while, how would you like to join me?"

"I don't think so." I spat my words at him; no way was I giving up without a fight.

"That's a shame."

Dylan had followed me to the bench and was now hovering beside me unsure what to do. Mr Bell had other ideas though. I watched as his neck began to twitch and he rolled his around so his eyes were looking up at the sky directly above him. He stretched his arms out and stood up. He towered above me now, but still he didn't lower his gaze. He took at deep breath, sucking the air around him and at once his skin began to bubble. The change was slow; I looked, frozen by the sight, as he began to change. The colour changed and he grew and within a couple of minutes, the beast was back.

I steeped back; wanting some space between the bird and I. Mrs Burgess had come to stand behind me and now her serpent head was inches from my neck as the same voice whispered to me,

"Time to go home Jack."


	11. Chapter 11

_**Hey everyone I'm very very sorry for how rubbish I have been with uploading, exams have just started this week, 2 down , 8 to go…. But I felt rubbish for having done nothing, so here's Chapter 11. It's not my best and its also sort of a filler chapter, sorry! Also I know I promised Percabeth but like I said this needed to come first … Hope you enjoy it and please tell me what you think…**_

_**Also a shout-out to Oneese and allenr thanks for reviewing! **_____

_Percy Jackson_

**Since I'm going to Hades anyway…**

My head ached, and I felt like I was going to be sick. I didn't understand what had happened. I had broken the rules, by a long way, and I couldn't return to my father. It would be obvious what I had done. There was no way to hide it. But that wasn't even what troubled me.

They had had a plane crash, a plane crash. Zeus controlled the skies why would he allow a plane with heroes destined to save his last son to fail because of a plane crash. The facts didn't add up and I felt like I was missing something really important.

Someone must have overcome the power of Zeus for a few moments and made the plane crash. But who would have the power and the motive to do that?

Who ever did it meant trouble that much was clear even to me so without any conscious effort I began drifting back from the place I fled. My heroes my need some more help.

As a half blood you had a lot of dreams. Except they weren't dreams, they weren't even nightmares. I used to have visions and warnings and unfortunately they were one of the only things that stayed with me after I became a god.

I dreamed I was in a dark cave. The ceiling was low and water was dripping down. The floor was covered in bones and dead snakeskin. The darkness was swallowing me up and stench was beginning to make me gag and then I heard a faint sound of hissing from the back. I leaned closer to the damp wall so I could here the voices' words.

"Help is required from me?" The voice was hideous and the words were slurred.

"You will be rewarded." The tone of the voice sounded familiar and sweet. I felt a sudden spread of comfort and warmth and smelt a beautiful fragrance that felt so out of place in the cave.

A tall woman in flowery robes ducked out of one of the side tunnels and I ducked behind a stone so I could watch her. I felt like she could see me, which was odd for a dream. She checked behind her shoulders a couple of times before she vanished in the blink of an eyelid, and I woke with a start.

Being a god didn't change the aftermath of dreams either, I didn't have the faintest idea what the dream meant, I didn't even know who the woman had been or to who the other voice belonged, so instead of trying to figure out the impossible I picked up my pace as I entered the different waters of the English rivers.

_Annabeth Chase _

**Too late**

When I opened my eyes Grover and Nico were both awake talking next to me in hushed voices and I looked down to my watch to see that I had slept through the whole journey. I quickly wiped my eyes and then turned to my friends.

"So what's the plan?"

"Make it up as we go along?"

"My favourite kind."

The bus stopped right on time and we jumped off and started heading quickly to the meeting point. Nico had gone in front and I was close behind him but Grover kept dawdling on the roads.

"I don't think Dylan and Jack are at the meeting place."

It took the look on Grover's face to tell me that that wasn't a good thing and we turned round and started heading in the opposite direction down hundreds of narrow roads and paths leading deeper and deeper into the old part of the city.

The sun was beating down from the sky above us and sweat was pouring down my face when we entered a gigantic square. The architecture around us was beautiful. Buildings surrounded the square that was centred with a fountain with a statue of Athena. Birds were nestled around it and on the benches near it. The scene was magnificent and I halted for a fraction of a second, as did my companions.

"Time to go home Jack."

The voice was filled with hatred and desire and my eyes flashed at once to a boy standing with his back to me. At first glance I saw an old short woman standing by his side talking to him gently but I concentrated a forced my eyes to see through the mist. The woman's shape shifted into a hideous monster and I was staring at the same serpent whose venom had killed Oliver, the son of Zeus, before my eyes days before.

I didn't have time to question how the monster had reformed so quickly or how she had reformed in London instead I just walked slowly forward signalling to my friends our battle plan.

I felt more confident knowing that Grover and Nico were right beside me but that confidence was shattered by my knowledge of what would happen if we failed.

I shook myself hard and carried on advancing,

"Failure was not an option."

We quickly spread out into an even circle surrounding Jack. His face surprised me. He had a hard determined look; he wasn't going to give up any time soon. I continued to look for Dylan and I saw him next to Jack, a couple of feet away fumbling in his bags. He hadn't noticed yet so hopefully neither had the monster.

Because I had fought through the mist when I heard her voice again it made me cringe and it took all my efforts not to lose focus.

"Ready?"

The single word was filled with power and destruction and as soon as the words had left her lips, we attacked.

She sensed us in an instant and she quickly struck Jack away from her with a swish of her deadly tail. The three of us surrounded her but Dylan looked more frightened than before. My second fight with the serpent was different. It was easy and short and I smiled with gratitude and a sense of revenge as I watched the vapour disappear again. We all huddled around Jack as soon as we were done ready to introduce ourselves, but his eyes mirrored Dylan's. They were still filled with fear and looking directly behind us.

I turned around but couldn't see anything but the statue. Then the statue moved. I strained my eyes again and this time the mist revealed what it was hiding slowly. What I had taken as part of the statue began to rise. Its glowing scarlet eyes locked with mine and I trembled back from the sheer sight of it. The monster spread its wings, reaching across the entire width of the square.

The serpent had been easy, but it had taken all three of us, a lot of skill and hard work. The flying beast was around fifty times bigger. Now we were in trouble. Nico, Dylan and I took a step forward to face the beast. Grover grabbed his reed pipes from his pocket and dragged Jack to the other side of the square.

"Battle formation 4C," I shouted, knowing that it probably wouldn't make that much of a difference.

They formed the shape and we started to attack. Dylan shot arrow after arrow but he continued to miss the target. The arrows flew through the beast's wings and around his body as if he was being protected. Nico and I managed to make contact with our swords but on those few occasions the sword didn't do any harm. After a few minutes the three of us were dripping in sweat and wounded, but the monster was smiling as if he was just warming up. Grover was playing madly on his pipes but the song wasn't making any difference. Jack was standing there staring at us all.

I was starting to give up. My mind was completely on the defensive now. We had no plan; our formation had crumpled as soon as we had made it. The beast had won, now he was just enjoying his victory slowly.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Needed a break from revision, and it turned out to be very enjoyable…hope you guys like it too, thanks for reading and reviewing is appreciated… **_

_Percy Jackson_

**Rules are made to broken, "they're more guidelines than rules…"**

I jumped out of the river and at once the water left my skin and for the first time in months I felt the gentle beam of the sun against my skin and the echo of a gush of wind, billowing through my hair. After the months sulking beneath the ocean, in the darkness of my father's realm, the sudden sensation was miraculous and for a brief moment all thoughts left my mind; for a very brief moment.

Annabeth, this time her name hit me and knocked me out of my daze and I focused once more. I opened my eyes fully and looked around the street. Since I made the change the mist never obscured my view and I saw a vibrant glowing trail leading away from the street, showing my where I needed to go.

I followed the glowing trail only a short distance before I reached the square. Sometimes I wished the mist still worked for my eyes. If it did it may have saved me from the horrific sight that lay before me.

A gigantic monster stood at the centre of the square, its neck snapping back and forth as it mercilessly picked at each of my friends. They all lay in a broken circle around it, failing miserably. Nico was sitting on the floor clutching a bleeding arm, as Dylan kneeled beside him working tirelessly to help. Grover stood at the corner of the square, banging it feet furiously, but never stopping the song ascending from his pipes. A boy I guessed as being Zeus's half-blood son stood torn half way between Nico and Dylan and the monster. A blade glistened in his grip but he had no idea what to do. Lastly, my eyes steal a look at the one person I have been longing to see.

Annabeth is still fighting the monster but I could tell she was tiring. His foot work was becoming a scramble and soon the monster would kill her. Without a wasting another fraction of a second I swoop into the scene.

As I charge I uncap my pen and unleash my sword: Riptide. I hold out straight in front of me as I run toward the monster, and I focus my mind on the fountain behind me. As a half-blood, being son of Poseidon my skills with water were pretty cool, once I even made my own storm around me. Now as a god, and still the son of Poseidon it's got even better.

With each step forward, I felt a sudden ripple pass through the air around me, and I heart a rhythm of thuds. The monster and Annabeth froze for a second, startled after being knocked out of the deadly game. The monster roared in anger, bringing its head to the sky. It spread its wings, stretching the entire span of the square, cutting off access for my friends, leaving me to fight it alone.

I smiled spread across my lips and I lunged forward again, Riptide sliced the beast's wing, and a gush of silver blood began to flow. The ripples from the fountain were now building up waiting for me to release them, almost crushing me, I held out as long as I could, and then as I gasped for breath and tried to ease the pain in my shoulders, I let it go.

Before I had been made a god, controlling my gifts was impossible, most of the time I had no idea why I was running across the lake, and if I tried it again I just got very wet and cold. Since then I learnt how to build up a wave of destruction and I learnt how to release it.

An abrupt torrent of water, appearing from nowhere shot at the monster from all sides, enclosing in a stormy ball. I slowly advanced to the monster, which was finally at my mercy, and without a thought I cut its throat. Instantly, the hissing and struggling ceased to exist and with a wave of dust so did the monster. It's prison of water also fell apart and water seeped through the ground around the entire square. Within a few seconds all evidence of the fight was gone, normality had returned to the London square.

With the monster gone I could once again see my companions' faces. Grover was cheering at punching the air, and an unbelieving grin was forming on his face. Nico was still holding his injured arm and the pain was clear from his face, but he too was smiling but with 'well-it-took-you-long-enough' expression. Dylan, the other satyr, who I didn't know very well and Jack both looked grateful. Annabeth didn't even bother to look at me. She paused for a moment to look at the space where the monster had been, before she turned to Nico to help with his arm.

The victory smile that had been branded on my face vanished, the instant I watched Annabeth turn away from me. Before the Iris messages failing I never believed had been because Annabeth was denying them, but at that moment I knew. Annabeth would never forgive me for accepting Zeus's gift, and I would never forgive myself for losing her.

Grover and Nico were shifting uneasily, with apologetic smiles. The pain that struck me fiercely, I didn't even understand the reception I had been expecting, but none of them had even said a word to me. I couldn't believe it. I had just saved their lives, their quest, and they wouldn't even acknowledge it.

I turned around, undecided about my next actions. If the gods at Mount Olympus hadn't realised what I had done after the plane crash, they knew what I had done to the monster. I could return to my father's realm and ask for forgiveness, but maybe Zeus would be at least pleased I had saved his son. Somehow I doubted it.

I twisted my head round to face my 'friends' once more.

I took my first proper look at Annabeth… How cliché would it be for me to say my heart skipped a beat? Screw that, I don't care, it's the truth, sometimes you don't realise how important someone is to you until they're gone. I missed her like you wouldn't believe and it took all my efforts to refrain from reaching forward to tuck the strand of loose hair flickering across her face behind her ear…

"Rules are made to be broken," I thought, laughing to myself, and then I asked, "Can I stay and help?"


	13. Chapter 13

_**You guys probably aren't going to like me so much after this chapter…and I'm very sorry but I've planned ahead and this is the best way to get Percabeth together again…I promise, just trust me…Hope you enjoy though despite it being a little sad…. **_

_**Disclaimer: (Haven't done one in a while) As much as I wish I owned any of this I do not…. **_

_Annabeth Chase_

**We completely ignore the prophecy**

I opened my eyes again to see if they were deceiving me or playing some sort of twisted joke. I was wrong. They were telling the truth. He came running in from the east side of the square, bringing out Riptide with a smooth easy motion. His power was unreal, unimaginable, impossible to describe. I stopped fighting, so did my opponent. Ripples of heat and supremacy were propelling through the sky, targeting us. At first I didn't even see his face. I was too absorbed by what was happening.

The monster rose up and spread its wings, welcoming its new rival, striking me away with one clean movement, cutting him off from our help, stopping any chance of interference. A snarl erupted from its throat, louder than anything I had ever heard, silencing everything around us, but he didn't even seem to notice, as if the monster was silent.

He closed his eyes, and at once a giant wall of water began to build around him. It grew higher and higher, threatening to break and unleash its destruction, as if it were alive. One instantaneous short gesture and the wall collapsed. It echoed shouts of despair and screams of pain as it ricocheted around the centre of the square. A splash of water sprayed at my feet, and suddenly they erupted in a fiery frenzy, as if a thousand knifes were embedding themselves into my skin.

All at once the water retreated and the pain disappeared. It stalked back to the monster, and trapped it within its cage. And then someone I didn't quite recognise steeped up to the cage and silenced the monster.

Time stopped for a second, as everyone tried to comprehend the situation. Percy just stood waiting for one of us to do something, and so did the rest of us. No one moved, and then time began again.

I couldn't look at him. My eyes wouldn't let me. Months I had been longing to see him, dying to see him. He hadn't tried to contact me at all and now he turned up here, expecting what?

Not even a drop of sweat had appeared as he single-handedly killed the monster, he didn't even look remotely tired. What had happened to him?

I turned to Nico again, needing to get him out of mind. I swallowed hard as I looked down at his arm. A huge gash had been sliced through it, exposing raw flesh and blood oozed from it sickeningly. Dylan was beside me and began to heal it and fed Nico some nectar, luckily the wound wasn't too serious. Nico was thanking me and reassuring me that he was fine when Percy alerted us of his presence once more.

All at once I'm struggling to remember how to breathe, unable to speak, totally stunned as the words bounce around in my head. His question seems simple and casual, but I'm still struggling to fill my lungs with oxygen. A hand grips my arm, Nico helping me, thinking I might fall down again. I think how white my face must be and then I sit down again.

Yet again all of us are silent. I can see everyone's faces turning on me when I spin around, all waiting for an answer.

When I speak my words seem detached, as if I'm hearing someone else talk,

"You can't. If the gods find out you'll be in trouble, you know the rules. We have to do this alone, you've done too much already."

They come out at a normal pace, and I don't pause or hesitate at all. I feel as if I should be screaming with protest against my own words, begging Percy to stay, so I can talk to him, even so I can just look at him. But I don't. No one does. Everyone stays silent, and then Percy starts to walk away.

I try to read his face. Is he hurt? Angry? Sad? Or is he happy? Pleased that I've saved him from his stupid slip of the tongue? Relieved that I have saved him from the trouble that he would have been in?

But I can't tell. His expression's empty as I watch him leave as quickly as he arrived. We all watch him leave silently, as my heart rips into a million pieces and pain exploded inside my chest.

After a few minutes, or several lifetimes of agony, or hundreds of stormy pain-filled decades I finally recover from my breakdown after seeing Percy. I pull myself back together, and try to unravel the situation: we all needed to get back to camp, but we all needed to get back to camp _alive_. Well it did sound far too easy, didn't it?

"What are our choices?" I say to no one in particular.

"I reckon flying's out of the equation," says Nico, "unless you enjoyed crashing," he added with a chuckle. I nod then lift my head again as Grover begins to speak,

"We have to get back to camp quickly, especially since Jack is attracting a lot of monsters at the moment."

"That rules out a boat, I don't even want to think about how long that would take," I answer, trying to formulate a plan, ignoring a natty voice which was whispering an our only hope into my ear.

Jack lifted his arm in the air and started to wave his hand. We all turned to stare at him,

"No offense," he started (meaning this is going to offend you), "but if we can't fly, we can't take a boat and I'm hoping you're not planning to make us swim to New York, how exactly are we going to get there?"

"Well there is one way." Nico speaks the words quietly, knowing it was our only option but also wishing that one of us would speak of some new path that we could take, but no one did. We had one choice, and we were going to take it.

"We have to go through the Underworld." I couldn't distinguish between Nico's words and the words that had been being whispered through my skull during the past conversation. I shivered uneasily, petrified by our fate.

Dylan, Nico and Grover's faces all shone with acceptance and each of them started to rise from the seats, slumped against the wall, aware that we had already wasted enough time in the square. We needed to get moving.

Jack stay sitting on the floor, looking at us with looks of disbelief and fear. His face was painted a ghostly white and his lips quivered from fright, not even able to utter his own feeble words of protest.

He didn't even know the real reason for our fear. A walk through the Underworld would be easy, just like a walk in the park, after our treacherous journey. Nico was Hades son, and despite Hades' reputation he was one of the more friendly gods, Hera, queen of the gods, now that's someone to avoid.

But that meant nothing. Everything had gone wrong on the quest so far. If it wasn't for Percy, we'd all be dead.

The plane had crashed. The monsters had found Jack and Dylan. Nico had been hurt. We'd lost all our money and most of our other supplies, apart from a worryingly small amount of Nectar and our weapons. The fates had forced us to obey their rules, forced us to go the very place we'd promised we'd stay out of. Of course our attempt was futile, we hadn't even really tried, and we'd been lead easily into the trap.

"Now off to the Underworld."

The words came out of mouth without me really meaning to say them. Fear and anxiety still gripped through me, as we began to walk quickly out of the square. The fifth line of the prophecy resounded repeatedly, bouncing through my entire body, alerting me to the danger I was walking towards with every step.

'One lost in the land of the dead.'


	14. Chapter 14

_Jack London _

**Mad World**

"You people are completely mad," I said, as we turned the last corner and I saw my first glimpse of our destination: The London Dungeon.

I had been to the London Dungeons once before, an outing with my Uncle and Aunt. For some reason I had feeling that my visit this time would be a whole lot different.

"You're telling me that the entrance to Underworld is the London Dungeons?" I asked in disbelief.

"One of the entrances, yes," said this girl, Annabeth, I think, "in America the entrance is in LA but there are a lot, in most places, I'm just glad I remembered this one."

"Yeah, so am I," the thought went unspoken, but my feelings, were obvious from the disapproving expression painted on my face.

I shook my head again, but no one was paying me any attention now, the four of them were walking very quickly, following Annabeth. I fell back a step to join my friend Dylan, wanting more information, but from someone I trusted and who I had known for more than an hour.

I opened my mouth to talk, or more precisely to get him to stop his friends from taking us into the Underworld, but I was silenced. I almost bumped into the person in front of me, who reminded me distinctively of Dylan, I think his name was Grover, when he came to an abrupt stop. I looked up and saw the hanging sign pointing to the entrance of the London Dungeons, swaying in the wind with an uninviting squeal. The memories of my last visit there came flooding back into my mind. As I looked up at the sign, an unintentional smile spread across my face and then I watched as everyone walked straight past it.

They all filed past the crowds of people and then turned unexpectedly into a side street that I hadn't even realised existed. It took me a few moments to free myself from the tangled mess of bodies that were filling the street, but eventually I manage to follow. The street, or more appropriately the gap was less than two metres in width and about the same in length, ending suddenly with a large stone door. Water was dripping of the roofs of the two buildings surrounding us and a thick green slime had sprouted and situated itself on the door handle.

Yet again, our procession stopped, and the dark haired boy Nico squeezed himself to the front, and opened the door.

"Charon, my friend, what are you doing here?" Nico voice beamed through the damp musty corridor.

My eyes scanned the room. The wall paper was peeling off the walls in deadly shards, a disgusting stench forced me to pinch my nose, posters all around the room displayed confusing slogans ('Where's _your _place in the Underworld?', 'Dead below the age of 16, please wait here'), and the rooms was dark, lit only by one dying, no pun intended, light bulb hanging swinging in the dead centre of the room. Apart from all of that, it was the exact mirror of a waiting room; a row of chairs lining one side to the look of boredom and distress on the occupants faces right down to the odd unhelpful receptionist, who was addressing Nico.

"I could ask you the same question."

"Well Charon I asked you first," Nico's reply was cheeky and Charon didn't look like a person to mess with, "but since you asked so politely I came with my friends," he gestured to all of us, "to visit my Daddy."

These words sounded almost like a threat and Nico leaned over the counter, waiting.

His father was obviously someone as soon as these words parted from his lips, Charon immediately pulled a lever. The wall at the end of the corridor lifted up, revealing a dark expanse of space. Charon stood up and indicated for us to go through.

"I'm sure you can find your own way through?" he asked Nico hopefully, and then after seeing Nico's nod he relaxed back into his seat, once again ignoring the other people in the room.

"Now off to the Underworld." I found myself repeating Annabeth's words and I gulped hard, staring at my companions, still not accepting we were going. Annabeth nodded smiling reassuringly and holding out her hand. I took it, and for a fraction of a second I felt happy and hopeful, and then she stepped into the hole.

I still held onto her hand, and I felt myself following her over the edge involuntarily. Before I loosen her grip on my hand, we were both falling through the dark expanse of space. Faintly, I heard the other three following us, but within a few seconds, I was completely lost in the abundance and darkness of the Underworld; the only thing I stayed aware of was the sound of my own screams resounding in the mass of space, and even they felt distant and detached.

It felt like several eternity's later when I felt a change in the air that whistled around my body. Somehow, NIco, Grover, and Dylan were now in front of me and I watched as they changed their positions, as if preparing for something that I couldn't see. Nico suddenly jerked upwards and began moving his legs as if he was walking. I was almost tempted to laugh, until I realised somehow that Nico was in charge, a sudden instinct told me that laughing may get me killed.

The landing was hard and painful, but thankfully quick. At first when I had been hurtling toward the ground, head first, I hadn't been able to depict anything. All that I saw was complete darkness, and the occasional glimpse of my friends. The suddenly a few seconds before I hit the ground, everything came into focus.

Around me, dark jagged pillars of purple rock sprouted from the ground, shooting upwards, towards our sprawling bodies. The ground erupted into a dancing frenzy of insects, sending a sharp shiver own the back of my neck. All my worst nightmares had appeared, as if snatched from my mind. Everything, my unspoken fears, past haunting memories, had been released from their prisons inside me and sought revenge.

Wispy sinister laughter flared inside my ears and my mind exploded in pure agony. My heart began to beat quicker and quicker, as if aware that its time was limited and I started to hold my breath. All that time I was falling, quicker than before, about to collide with the cold hard ground covered with vines and insects. I was an inch away from contact, I heard the hiss of a snake and could feel a fierce surge of cold, like a misty breath and then I stopped.

I hovered above, gasping for air once again, my heart recovering from the trauma. I let out an uncontrollable uneasy laugh. I stretch my hand out in awe, it swiped through the tangle of vines and beasts, and I laugh again. At first I'm angered by the trick, but that subsided quickly because my thankfulness that none of it existed was too great.

I push myself forward again, waning to touch the ground and I delve beneath the blanket of mist, and fall softly on to the ground. I stand up, looking around me to see the exact same mask of disbelief and fear covering everyone around me, except one.

Nico I doubled over, laughing uncontrollably pointing at us all and stuttering to himself more than to us, in between spites of laughter,

"You should of seen…your faces…I can't believe it."

After the trick none of the others were particularly pleased with Nico, but I was glad in one way that I wasn't the only one who had been kept in the dark so I gave him a wide smile.

"So where next?" I addressed the group. Everyone looked at Nico expectedly, indicating him to lead us.

Although the fake visions of my nightmares had disappeared, the ground still creaked with unease, and we all walked slowly, carefully choosing our steps so as to avoid anything unpleasant. The sharp protruding points that had targeted us during the fall had remained, and I as we paced by I saw the rows of bones and layers of smile coating each one. The darkness had also stayed, engulfing us within its lethal grip, forcing us together, into a minute pocket of light that it permitted to exist. This pocket enclosed us within a impenetrable barrier, following us as we made our way through.

The road Nico guided us through was dusted with unrecognisable things as well as broken pieces of abandoned armour and a never-ending stream of bone. The entire group hunched together, out of fear for the unknown surroundings. Yet Nico was smiling and his step had a certain spring to it, like we were walking through a sweet shop. I still had not found out why everyone was suddenly acting as if he was in charge, since we'd arrived at the Underworld.

I opened my mouth to ask Dylan why Nico knew so much about the Underworld when I felt an instinct telling me not to, again. I realised that no one had spoken since we left that first landing point. Our pocket of life and light was completely silent. Even our breathing had quietened.

The landscape around us began to change, the pillars grew higher and higher with each step we took, as if heading towards something. Suddenly, I felt fearful again as a sudden reminder of where I stood shot through my mind. I held my tongue, not daring to break the wall of silence.

I continued to walk, staring at my feet, as I dragged them across the rough terrain. I began to struggle to take each step as we started heading upwards, until suddenly we surfaced, from our dark tunnel, into an open garden.

The garden was a dark beautiful mess. Shivers and warning rushed through my body, and yet it was like the garden was daring me to walk through it.

A large array of blood reds, and dark purples were scattered across the plants lining the garden. I didn't see single species that I recognised in even the faintest way. Each different brand was larger and more threatening than anything I had ever seen, snapping at the air, sprawling with vicious vines after sensing even the softest movement.

Our procession had been growing even slower but within a second I found myself grounding to a halt. The four heads around me were all staring at a blaze of colour that had appeared at the farthest end of the garden.

The circle of mist and smoke absorbed the light around it, bending it like a black hole. A spiral of murky purple and blue grew inside it. I felt as if the smoke was gripping me, brutally locking my body into position, forcing me to watch as the dark sphere of mist changed.

Locked into my position I had a perfect view of the menacing transformation. The spiral grew and grew, almost three times as big as the cloud that had appeared at first. Screams pierced in my ear drums and I saw my broken mother in the last few moments of her mind as she…

Pain exploded inside my body. A throbbing headache echoed in my skull as I struggled to get to grips with reality again, as I tried to get the image of my mother out of my mind, as I tried to forget it. My breath was quick, but that was nothing compared to the battle of emotions brawling inside my ribcage. Tears threatened my eyes and I groped for something to clutch, as the pain rebounded through my system, taking no prisoners.

And then all of sudden, I was released from the grip and I am flung backwards, an unexpected burst of bright white light flashed from the twisted spiral and I shielded my eyes, wanting to escape from the scene.

Around me I am aware of my companions once more, no longer submerged by my pain and fear. All of us have fallen to the floor and then the light vanishes, and as if it was never there, the chamber is hurled back into the overwhelming darkness.

I drop my hands, regaining my sight and stare at the source of the torture and torment.

His face was hard with an untrustworthy smile spreading across it as he looked at each of us. His body was dressed in an elegant robe of deep scarlet and clashed strikingly with the pure white of his body.

The garden seemed to greet him and a pathway began to form as we made our way through. A few metres was cleared and then reappeared as we made our way across, until finally we were stranded in the clearing with him, trapped by the deadly garden.

I had recognised him instantly, and as we had travelled across I had been completely frozen with fear, unable to remember my name, but still able to continue the deadly march towards the clearing.

Hades, the Lord of the Dead, greeted us with a pronounced lift of his head, an indication to speak, before he killed us for trespassing through the Underworld.

Nico steeped forward, his leadership apparently had not disappeared. I expected him to apologize, pleading would seem weak and there was no bartering with the Lord of the Dead. The very words I never expected him to say were the very ones I heard spoken. I thought my ears must be wrong, that I must have been heard, but the booming laugh that sounded from the Lord of the Dead afterwards proved them to be correct, it also proved that where I was living was definitely a seriously mad world.

"Good evening Father."


	15. Chapter 15

_**Percy's back! And he's figuring out who seems to be plotting against him and Annabeth…Did anyone guess correctly? **_

_**~Companion17 **_

_Percy Jackson_

**Man, I hate dreams**

That night, the dreams returned to me.

_An ear-piercing shriek bounced off the walls of the cave and I could see a dark silhouette backed against a wall. More pain filled screams followed, the figure begged again and again but his captor was merciless and refused to stop. Shrill, senseless laughter escaped the captor once every few moments, and then the screams would continue, sounding more desperate and agonising with each passing second. _

_ Too soon for the captor's liking the screams stopped and the lifeless figure slumped down on the frozen floor, the imprisoner came into my line of vision for the first time, but their face was hidden and all I saw was a wave of pale green silk coated with a snarling design of gripping vines before they fled from my view once more. _

_ The scene shifted and I was tugged away from the abandoned cave and dropped helplessly into a golden chamber, where in the midst of a messy carnage of broken items a tall woman stood. Her body was bent in a defensive crouch, but I could still make out some distant similarities between her and the brutal, vicious character from the depths of the cave. Her skin cast off the same frighteningly pale glow but her face was locked in innocence and I could not imagine the wicked malevolent laughter emitting from her sweet lips. _

_ Her pure beauty and innocence had engulfed me so much that it until I heard a deafening growl evoke from the figure standing in the place where she was cowering from I had thought she was alone in the chamber. _

_ A mountain like body completely obscured everything else in the chamber and another growl ripped through the silence sending the shivering women into another surge of hysterics._

_ "What happened?" The growl transformed into the demand; pursuing towards the women. He didn't wait for an answer before he swooped down on her and froze inches from her face, while her eyes squirmed relentlessly, trying to flee from his gaze. _

_ The attempt was futile and within a second, she was locked in place. He spoke again, this time the words were like a whisper, and he spoke directly into her ear, close enough for her to feel his breath on her exposed neck. _

_ "Why didn't it work?" _

_ She gulped, and her answer came out broken and weak. _

_ "They had them, it was all working fine, but someone came, I don't know who and they escaped." She winced back in anticipation of the fury, but the man was still. Gently, he rose from beside her and stepped back. The room was stagnant, as he took another step into the dead centre of the chamber. His face was unreadable and he delicately tapped a broken piece of glass with his foot. _

_ A sharp ding blasted through the room, shattering the silence into a thousand different fragments. In the centre of the shard of glass the woman's image was reflected and I watched as it morphed into a picture of pure agony and was stunned as the woman excruciating screams flared up in my ears. _

_ I shut my eyes, attempting to block out the woman's tormented image but I couldn't escape her cries. I lost track of time and I don't know how long the torture lasted but I heard a twisted chuckle and the same sharp ding, before the room was silent again. _

_ The man had stood with his back to the woman the entire time, his face glowing with a satisfied aura. After the screaming stopped he finally bent down once more and uttered in a menacing whisper,_

_ "I suggest that you make it work."_

The threatening words sliced through my mind, leaving me dazed as the chamber around me disintegrated and my eyes flashed open and I found myself in my bedroom in my father's palace once more.

My duvet was strangled around my tangled body and my stern grip crumpled the pillow wrapped around my chest. Sweat coated my brow and I reached toward a glass of stagnant water that was warm against my lips. My vision was fuzzy after the vibrant colours of the nightmare. I couldn't erase the memory of the woman's warped body and the piercing irrational laughter continued to ring in my ears.

A throbbing headache was also echoing in my skull as I struggled to understand what had happened in the dream. My breath was quick, and sweat streaked across my skin, nauseating me, but the fear building inside of my body overpowered all of that, pulling me into its deadly grasp.

Confusion and tiredness overwhelmed me at once and I desperately racked through my brain trying to identify the woman…

I closed my eyes; a scene began to play, unrolling across my mind.

I stood in the chamber of the gods, surrounded by twelve of the most powerful beings in existence. I remember the fear and anxiety that had filled me as I watched and listened them debate my fate, whether I should be allowed to live.

I had watched each of them in turn, trying to grasp the flow of the conversation. Zeus was sitting on his throne, clearly torn between his want for the Great Prophecy never to occur and the fact that I had just retrieved his most prized weapon. My dad, Poseidon, was smiling at me proudly while next to him sat all the other male gods.

My vision turned to the other side of Zeus; right next to him sat Hera, queen of the gods. I had made an enemy of her a couple of summers ago, but she was not the woman in the dream.

I scanned across the people sitting after Hera: Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Demeter. Aphrodite was looking at me knowingly and was fiddling with his hair, not really paying attention to the conversation.

Athena was a completely different matter, she was thoroughly involved with the debate, although her opinion about my fate was unclear and she kept throwing disapproving glances and my father, Annabeth and I.

Artemis appearance startled me. She was a young girl, around 10 years old, with a bow and arrows strapped to her back. I was sure she was not the woman from my dream.

That meant that only Demeter was left as a possibility. The last thing I saw before I was tugged out of my memory was the image of Demeter sitting on her throne her legs crossed delicately and a flowing green gown falling to the floor beneath her.

I didn't know a lot about Demeter and I had only seen her a handful of times; she hadn't ever expressed a hate of me so I hadn't really met her.

I knew from my Latin lessons a lifetime ago with Chiron, at that time Mr Brunner, that she was the goddess of agriculture and the harvest and also the mother of Persephone, Hades' wife.

Apart from those basic facts all I knew was she spent a lot of time in the Underworld annoying Hades. But for some reason I was sure of two very important things.

Demeter was the woman from my dream.

And Zeus was the man.


	16. Chapter 16

_**Hey Everyone! Sorry I haven't updated much recently, one exam left and been very busy with school work… I hope you like this chapter; although I'm worried you may be disappointed…tell me what you think. **_

_** ~Companion17 **_

_Jack London_

**After a while you start believing in the impossible**

"Father," I spluttered, without thinking, completely dazed by the comment.

"Father, Dad, Daddy, Dada, what would you have Nico call me?" The voice came from Hades figure. He was still laughing with his terrifying cackle and although the words sounded calm there was a certain edge from them that cut through the air, and a hissing voice spoke quietly into my ear,

"Do you dare?"

I cursed myself silently, praying I had not just earned my death, but still desperately trying to figure out the concept of Nico being Hades' _son. _

'Half boy, half god', Dylan's words drifted back to me. After all the drama and confusion with the monsters I had almost forgotten what Dylan had told me.

I was a half-blood, or what was the other thing he had called it, a demi-god? I was the son of one of the Greek gods, like Nico. So if Nico was Hades' son who was my Olympian parent.

"Who-" My mouth was dry and the words wouldn't form, but Annabeth stepped out sympathetically, grasping what I wanted to ask, what I needed to know.

"Jack one of your parents is an Olympian god, like me and Nico." Her words were kind but they didn't answer my question.

"Dylan and Grover aren't half-bloods, they're satyrs, and they help us and live at camp too."

All the information was too much. Dylan was a satyr?

Annabeth opened her mouth to speak a final time, to finally tell me who my parent was, but Hades spoke first.

"So Jack I'm Nico's Dad, Athena is Annabeth's mum and your Daddy is Zeus."

The final word was like a punch in the gut. I couldn't believe what I was hearing; it didn't make any sense. Zeus was the king of the gods, Lord of the Sky and so many other things, but he couldn't be my dad?

"But…how?" My speech skills were improving greatly.

"Most of the gods have half-blood children with mortals, even the minor gods too, except Artemis and Hera. You have to believe us, Zeus is your father," Annabeth was almost pleading with me.

"I don't understand." I had no idea what to say; I didn't know what everyone wanted me to say.

"Luckily, you don't have to worry about that for now," Hades began addressing me once more, bringing everyone's focus to him, "now Annabeth you haven't forgotten the prophecy have you?" Hades shook his head patronizingly, his lip turning into an annoying pout.

So if I wasn't lost already, Hades' words completely dazed me. I hadn't been told anything about a prophecy, and the way Hades' said it sent a shiver down my back.

"I remember the prophecy," Annabeth spoke strongly, meeting his glare with steady eyes.

"One lost in the land of the dead," Hades mused, "I wonder what that could mean?"

"Father, can you not let us all through?"

"I am afraid it is not up to me. Nico you may pass and you may only bring three companions."

Mentally, I counted our group: Annabeth, Nico, Dylan, Grover and I. There were five of us, and only four could pass.

"I'll stay." Annabeth, Grover and Dylan all spoke at the same time.

"Nico has to go or none of us can and Jack has to get back." No one argued, which I was secretly glad of, I couldn't stand the thought of being stranded here.

"Annabeth, if you stay we have no chance," Dylan spoke slowly as if the words were hard to find, and I could sense what he was doing, but I couldn't bring myself to stop him, if he didn't I might have to, "Grover you're better with reed pipes you can help them more. I _have _to stay."

Silence swept around our group. Annabeth and Grover were looking at Dylan as if asking 'Are you sure?' and Dylan was putting up a brave face. Hades were standing further away from us now, grinning smugly, his eyes fixed on Dylan's frame.

"Well if you're sure." Hades didn't wait for an answer before splitting the treacherous vines in the garden around us and revealing a passage for four of us to take.

I turned to Dylan, wishing I had something to say to him. He had been such a good friend since he came to the school, and now he was sacrificing himself, just to help me. He was allowing us to abandon him in the Underworld. I opened my mouth, but I was fumbling on the words.

Before I knew what was happening a flash of black struck our group, sending us flying onto the start of our passage and driving us away from Dylan.

Dylan fell to the ground where we were standing helplessly, and within another second Hades appeared by his side. I opened my mouth was more, but with a surge of energy and a gush of black smoke Hades and Dylan had disappeared.

I was too stunned to move, and so as Annabeth and Grover half dragged me and half carried me the first few steps of the next leg of our journey, the only though rushing around my mind was:

_Am I ever going to see him again? _


	17. Chapter 17

_Annabeth_ _Chase_

**Complications**

Eventually Jack regained himself enough to walk without our help, however no one spoke as we journeyed along the meandering path, Dylan's fate was playing on everyone's minds.

As we went the lines of Nico's prophecy kept jumping into my head, tantalizing me as I tried to grasp their meaning.

'Journey to the east and the end', we'd gone east, to England, but I didn't like the sound of the last bit.

'Receive help from a long lost friend', check, he'd saved us twice, from the plane crash and from the monster. If he hadn't we would be dead.

'Find all that you are looking for', all the quest had been about was finding Jack and bringing him to camp half-blood so that criteria had been met as well.

'But beware; take care, there is more', this line made goose bumps sprout on my arm. I had no idea what to expect, but I had a horrible suspicion. Last summer after the battle of Olympus, just after Percy was made a god, we'd rushed back to camp together (for the last time). Rachael Elizabeth Dare had taken Blackjack and was about to become the new oracle. Percy had been scared. Long ago, after Zeus had tried to kill Nico, his sister and his mother Hades' had cursed the spirit of the oracle, but the curse had been lifted, and so Rachael became the oracle.

'Seven half-bloods must answer the call,

To storm or fire the world must fall,

An oath to keep with a final breath,

And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.'

Rachael's first prophecy recited in my head, the next 'Big' prophecy to be fulfilled; and the fourth line of Nico's prophecy was linked to it, I was sure.

Before I hadn't given much thought to that line, I had been preoccupied with fears of what might happen in the Underworld. 'One lost in the land of the dead' had had a feeble climax, not that I minded. I was still scared for Dylan, but we'd come back for him later, he'd be fine.

That left only one line:

'Fail or succeed? Tears shall be shed." Well at least that line's meaning was obvious, not that it made me feel any better.

Without me even noticing we had come to the end of the path. Straight in front of us, was our exit. None of us, not even Nico, knew where we'd be when we left. The only thing we knew for sure was that monsters would be waiting for us. So of course we did the only thing we could: We leapt out, without a second thought.

Leaving the Land of the Dead was a lot less eventful that our entrance.

Within a second we were dropped silently into the midst of a chaotic crowd scrambling through the street. No one paid any attention to our sudden appearance and it took us a while, fighting our way through flailing limbs before we managed to escape the streaming crowd and we sat, exhausted, on the edge of the road.

I had a look round and for the first time since starting the quest, luck seemed to be on our side. Nico and Grover relived and happy expressions mirrored mine as we all looked at our surroundings, disbelievingly.

We were only half an hour from camp.

"We need to contact Chiron. Grover have you got any drachmas left?" I spoke, trying to sound confident, although we didn't have far to go, the last part of the journey, with new half-bloods was always the hardest.

Grover quickly dug in his pocket, and pulled at a single shining drachma; we had one chance to contact camp and get some help.

We all moved fast, and within a few minutes we had already set up the Iris message and asked for Chiron.

Sure enough, suddenly Chiron appeared in the pool of water and a surge of comfort wafted toward me. The events of the quest hadn't been at all what I had been expecting and I yearned to ask Chiron his opinion, but there wasn't time, I had to stick to the essentials.

Quickly, I told Chiron our position and he told us not to move. His plan for getting us back to camp was very complicated, which reassured me slightly but also very dangerous for a lot of people.

Argus was going to come pick us up in the van with two other campers to help protect Jack. Monsters would still follow us if they caught our scent but our journey would be a lot quicker.

Meanwhile three other groups of six or seven campers from the cabins with the best fighters were travelling to various points around the camp to try and distract monsters so less would be hunting us.

Then back at camp, the Apollo cabin was already in charge of setting up medical facilities and others were preparing chariots and peguses to help the groups once we were back inside the camp's borders.

The plan took a lot of pressure off Nico, Grover and I, but I was worried about the three groups who were more or less going to act as bait, just so we would get back with Jack safely.

Luckily, I didn't have a lot of time to worry before Argus showed up. We had moved a couple of hundred metres into a more deserted area and no one saw the white van come hurtling up the road as skid to a halt a step away from us.

The many-eyed security guard stayed seated, his foot an inch away from the pedal, however the back doors sprung open and in the door way stood Clarisse and Dante, son of Nemesis.

Without any sort of greeting, apart from a quick nod, we were pulled into the van by the pair, the doors were slammed shut and Argus smashed down on the pedal.

"Here's the plan: Jack going to stay in here out of the way," Clarisse didn't even attempt to hide her resentment at being assigned as a babysitter, "Grover will also stay here, try and help us with his pipes. Nico, you and Dante will use the sun roof and try and shoot down anything that comes our way. Annabeth you and I are going to fly around the van, your pegasus is tailing the van, and guide it back camp. Everyone understand?"

We all nodded; our faces were grim and determined, apart from Jack, who seemed to be frozen with shock and unable to function. All kinds of weapons were lined around the van, and I quickly grabbed a bow and a set of arrows, checked I still had my dagger, before I stepped up to the door with Clarisse.

"Chris is flying just behind us in the chariot, and so is your pegasus when I open the door we both have to jump," Clarisse looked at me for an answer and I nodded me head grimly.

Within a second Clarisse had pushed thrust the doors open and a gush of cold air swept under my flimsy clothes, making me far too aware of my lack of armour. I could feel from the ferocity of the wind the speed we were travelling, but I had no time for fear, and as soon as I saw the flapping white wings of Ash I leapt out of the van.

The sheer precision and expertise of Ash allowed me to land gently on her back and within seconds she regained height and I watched someone, probably Grover shut the door of the van once more.

A sudden sense of isolation flooded through me, but I pushed it aside firmly and focused my mind, trying to see if anyone or anything had noticed our presence so far.

Clarisse had made a safe landing as well and Ash and the Chariot, driven by Chris, were flying in a perfect circle around the van, as if crafting a force field out of thin air to protect our friends.

Automatically, I strung an arrow, ready to fire and my vision flickered back to the van. I could see Nico and Dante faintly as I orbited around them but if not for the perfectly timed arrow that glided easily to its mark, I would not have seen what Nico had.

About a hundred feet ahead, where the sun had been only a few seconds before, a black silhouette blocked out the sunlight. Nico's arrow sank into the beast's eye, and before I could even admire his skill, all hell broke loose, literally.

The beast erupted into a thousand pieces which flew toward us in a dancing frenzy, clouding our view, just as another four monsters appeared at all sides. Our targets were decided instantly, and I gently urged Ash to break our ring of protection.

My foe was another winged beast but I could see, even though it was still hundreds of metres away, that it was more deadly. Its talons shone blood red, from the light of the sun set, and its opening jaw displayed an array of weapons. The only comparison I could make was of the creatures I had glimpsed when we were in the Underworld, which had lurked in the semi-darkness and had made my skin crawl without even seeing them properly.

Ash was trembling beneath me as I let my first arrow fly. My talents were nowhere near the feats of Dante and Nico but my arrow still struck the beast body, sinking deep within its skin, and leaving a trail of pure black blood behind.

The creature's growl gripped my ears, silencing everything else apart from the deadly screech of the beast's final moments, and I let a final arrow hit it down, leaving it to disintegrate into nothing but dust, before it even hit the ground.

I swopped back to the site of the van, knowing it wasn't the moment for self-congratulation and a petrifying site greeted my eyes. All three of the previous monsters had been defeated, leaving Dante, Nico, Clarisse, Chris and I tired and with less weapons but with still a few miles to go until reaching camp another monster lay in our path. But it wasn't the sight of a third flying monster that made my entire body and mind shake with terror, it was the sight of the road beneath the van.

My ears were filled with the sound of Grover desperately blowing on his reed pipes, obviously also aware of what I was seeing, but he was failing miserably: not only was his music making no difference at all, things were getting worse.

The gravel and rocks littering the abandoned road had exploded into an uncontrollable fury and were hurtling themselves at the wheels of the van and sheets of dust were blustering towards the windshield, making it very hard for Argus to see and causing the van to skid and slide violently. Plants and weeds had morphed into snarling vines that were trying to stop the van and the forest surrounding the road seemed to be attempting to enclose us within its grip.

The smoke and mist gripped me brutally, and the delicate landscape had been distorted with a fiery roar of power. Forcefully I made a charge at the oncoming monster, accompanied by the chariot and an on-going collection of arrows. I surged toward the monster but a fierce wind swallowed my effort before I had even pulled out my dagger. I'm flung backwards, ricocheting off the deadly force of the wind, before I am dropped once more into a prison of suffocating vapour.

I completely lost my vision as the wind's power increased yet again, and Ash and I are bashed against the side of the van before we literally roll across the property line.

_Well that was fun. _The thought quickly entered my mind before I fell into unconsciousness.


	18. Chapter 18

_**I'm a horrible horrible person… sorry for not updating sooner, been on holiday and no wifi connection, did manage to write though so 2 chapters tonight and another within a couple of days**_

_**Thanks so much for sticking with me and any thoughts about the happenings would be very well received !**_

_**~Companion 17 **_

_Jack London _

**Camp Half-Blood**

A couple of days later I found myself lying in a bed in a hospital-like room, with Annabeth and Nico sitting beside me, talking quietly.

"I have an idea about what happened-" Annabeth abruptly stopped talking when she saw that I was awake and I tried to hide my disappointment, but luckily she was too happy to see me awake for her to notice.

"Jack, finally, you've drifting in and out consciousness for two days, since we got back, I was out for a couple of hours but we were really worried about you since-" Her ramble was cut short by the arrival of a new face.

"Hey Jack, I'm Joel, how you feeling?" The boy looked around twelve or thirteen and I was startled by the fact that he was addressing me like a doctor, nevertheless I answered him truthfully.

"Not too bad, I've got a bit of a headache but that's it."

"Well, then you're free to go. Annabeth Chiron said you or Nico should show Jack around then bring him back here. I'll see you guys later."

After Joel left, I got out of the bed, despite the protests inside my head and found myself clean with brand new clothes on identical to Nico's attire. Before I would have been embarrassed but after the previous days' events I didn't care and I was very eager to be shown around the camp.

Annabeth and Nico also both stood up and I followed them outside. Snow coated the grass and the sight was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Well this is the Big House, where Chiron and Mr D live; they're the camp directors, as well as Rachael Elizabeth Dare, who's the oracle. You saw the hospital, mostly Apollo campers work there, they're the best healers. Down here's the Forest…"

Annabeth and Nico kept talking as they led me everywhere in the camp; we walked from the climbing wall oozing lava to the Pegasus stable to the archery house and so on.

With each sight I was swept away and filled with happiness at the prospect of my new home, but also harbouring a feeling that I was _meant_ to be there. However nothing blew my mind or amazed me more than the sight of the cabins.

After we left sword fighting arena, where I had stayed, engrossed by the skill of people that were my age and younger, for several minutes, we entered into the circle.

A camp fire had been built in a pit directly in the centre of the circle and the flames were dancing around harmoniously, reflecting strikingly off the pure white snow as they moved. But not even the sight of the flames on the snow could hold my gaze as I realised what surrounded us.

Fifteen or twenty cabins were forming a circle around the camp fire and more looked as if they were being built. All looked slightly absurd in the midst of each other but they were all strikingly amazing.

At the top of the circle stood the grandest cabin of all, also covered in a layer of snow, but that was unnoticeable among the white marble of the 'cabin'. A sign was hanging over the door, displaying a gold '1' and a golden lightning bolt.

Even without hearing Annabeth tell me I knew who's cabin it was and I began walking toward it, yearning to see the inside.

"That cabin's Zeus, that's where you'll be staying."

By the time the words had reached me I was standing at the foot of the steps leading to front door. These were white marble, like the rest of the cabin and I walked briskly up them, and before long my hand had gripped the golden door handle and I was inside.

The interior was just as grand as the exterior, with pictures engraved in the walls and statues echoing past heroes that maybe at one stage had lived inside. There were two rooms inside: one looked like a living room, with elegant chairs and sofas and the other was a bedroom.

There was a lot of beds lined against the walls, and wardrobes for belongings but everything looked too tidy, and all the wardrobes were empty, apart from dust.

No one else was living inside the cabin. Meaning I was the only half-blood child of Zeus. Suddenly, everyone's actions over the last few days made sense. And it defiantly didn't make me feel better.

As I walked out of the cabin I tried to put my new knowledge out of my mind, and return to the aura of happiness I had been submerged within. Annabeth and Nico seemed to have realised my presumptions but neither of them said anything, instead they showed me around the various cabins.

They explained about how this time last year there had only been twelve cabins, but how one for Hades and some for minor gods had been added because of a pact.

We walked around the circle, and I was still awe-struck by each, but not as I was before. A smaller twin of my cabin stood beside it, Hera's, which also looked empty, outside the next an display of flowers were shining, it was Demeter's.

Around half an hour later, Annabeth and Nico revealed that we had travelled in a circle and once again I found myself staring at the Big House.

"Well Jack that's it now we're going to go see Chiron," Annabeth said, smiling, though not in the patronizing way that a lot of people had looked as we walked around today.

"You're coming too?" The words escaped my mouth, without me meaning to say them, and I immediately regretted them.

"Yeah, course, Grover too, it's to talk about the quest." And my father, I added mentally. The walk to the room was less daunting than I had been expecting, with Nico and Annabeth by my side but although I was getting use to expecting the extraordinary I had not been expecting that my camp director was a centaur.

"Good evening Jack, it's nice to meet you, I'm Chiron."

"It's good to meet you too," I said politely, shaking his hand and thankfully, I managed to stop myself from saying: You're a centaur.

Everyone sat down, Chiron stayed standing, _he's a centaur_, and I noticed a sixth person in the room. He looked very bored, lounging back on his chair, and I couldn't figure out who he was. As if reading my mind, the next words out of Chiron, _the centaur's_, mouth were,

"This is Dionysus, god of wine, but at camp he's referred to as Mr D. He's our camp director, officially."

I turned to him again, expecting, some sort of greeting, but instead I found him completely reclined in his chair, with his head hanging theatrically and a loud snoring sound coming from his throat. Chiron cleared his throat purposefully and the snoring stopped. Mr D sat up in his chair said 'Hello Jill' in my direction then left without another word.

Confused I looked back at Annabeth, but all she managed was a quick shrug of the shoulders before Chiron began talking again.

Finally I got the explanation I was looking for; maybe not the exact one I was expecting but at least it was something and made a little sense.

I sat with Chiron for about an hour, frozen still with shock as he spoke to me about the almighty immortal gods of Olympus, great beings controlling the forces of nature. Doubts crept at the corner of my mind, but the events of the previous days flashed through my mind, silencing those thoughts.

"So there you have it," the casual comment was the last thing that came out of Chiron's mouth before all hell broke loose, again.

A sharp gust of wind shot through our room, filling the room with icy air and a sharp silence. The door swung open and the effect was immediate: Annabeth's jaw fell open, Chiron sprang up in delight. Then suddenly there was a colossal crack.


	19. Chapter 19

_Percy Jackson _

**Home sweet home**

Being a god, I thought I could do something, knowing who the people in my dream were and so I did the only thing I could think of: I ran off to tell someone who would understand.

My father's palace stretched out under the oceans for miles. His main quarters were situated somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, with a holiday villa in the blue waters of the Caribbean and the Mediterranean and a skiing lodge being built near the Arctic Circle. My bedroom sat on the west side of the palace, so my journey wouldn't take that long.

In the past few days the surge of activity had given me things to focus my mind on and I realised that in the midst of the blur that I had previously been kept in I didn't even know what the date was.

Like I had expected the journey took almost no time at all and before I knew it I found myself staring into Annabeth's eyes as she sat with Chiron and someone I didn't recognise. Her jaw fell open and a smile spread across my face. A _real _smile, one that I had forgotten, scattering across my features.

Then a sharp piercing crack filled the space, and I flinched back clutching my reddening face and Annabeth drew back her hand from my face.

"What? You just slapped me in the face?"

"No, no, I wasn't a slap, more of a high-five, just in the face region," the unrecognisable boy said, biting his lip to stop from smiling.

Before I could say anything in response, I received another welcoming message from my previous camp director,

"What are you doing here?"

"It's nice to know I'm welcome," I said, still rubbing my face, as the awkward silence settled in the room.

"I'm Jack London by the way; you saved us back in London right?"

His words certified the fact in my mind: he was a total idiot.

"You did what?" Chiron didn't even raise his voice, but I knew I was in trouble; changing into a god really didn't change _anything. _

"Nothing, I didn't do anything, I was just passing through, I know the rules, no interference." I was rambling again and Chiron's eyes were set in a disappointed look, a sadness that I didn't understand.

"Percy the major gods can get away with interfering but you can't. You'll have to be punished."

Right on cue, the heavens above us parted and even inside the safety of the Big House I could feel the sharpness of the rain that pelted the camp. The flashes of lighting stung my eyes, clouding my thoughts. I hadn't understood the warning of my father, but for some reason my thoughts wouldn't focus on the punishment that I was about to receive, the sharp ting of Annabeth's slap, made my whole body ache.

The storm continued to wage war on the camp as the four of us walked outside. A sharp blurry shade of smoke and mist ascended from the horizon, deafening the delicate landscape with a fiery roar of power. The stones lining the garden in front of the Big House erupted in a dancing frenzy. The trees parted as the shadow stalked towards us, and still I felt no fear. We were flung backwards, ricocheting off the deadly force of the wind, before we were dropped back into a prison of suffocating vapour; locked inside as we travelled upwards into the true land of the gods: Mount Olympus.

Our fierce captor carried us straight to the throne room, but even through the barricade of snarling wind the beauty and elegance of Mount Olympus didn't escape me. However, the bliss relief in the beauty was short-lived. We plunged from the prison onto the cold hard floor of the throne room and once again I found myself in front of the thirteen greatest beings on earth, and once again they were not happy.

Zeus, sat in the middle, and certainty flooded through me. The image of him was identical to the mountain-like figure from my dream, and I could see that a lot had changed in the past months; I caught a menacing grin flash his face as he saw me being crushed at his feet.

"Perseus Jackson, were you aware that gods are not permitted to interfere in heroes quests? We," his face curled in disgust to mention himself in the same grouping as me, "are bound by the law of ancient magic. Yet you have ignored this. Do you deny it?"

There was no point denying what I had done, no one would believe it if I did.

"No Lord Zeus."

"You shall be punished, we shall take a vote," Zeus cast his eyes around the semi-circle of power, settling first on his wife, Hera; but it was Poseidon who spoke first.

"Wait, Zeus. Perseus is my son and my soldier. I shall decide his punishment, which I believe shall satisfy us all." My father's eyes locked with my own and I could see that I had done more than disappointed him, his actions were purely political, and within a few seconds he broke his gaze, like he couldn't even look at me.

"Perseus gift should be lifted; he should be made mortal once again."

The words took a long time to sink in: made_ mortal once again. _It seemed like an impossible dream. From the moment the words of acceptance had escaped my mouth I had regretted them, I remember the day it happened, it's been burnt into my memory.

_It was my sixteenth birthday, straight after the battle of Olympus. Relief and happiness flooded through my body. Annabeth had just received an enormous chance to rebuild Mount Olympus, Tyson's wildest dreams had come true, Grover had been made a Lord of the Wild, I was the only one left to be called upon. _

_Then Zeus spoke the words, words that had once been beautiful but had quickly turned bitter and cruel. He had offered me the chance that all heroes dream of hearing, the ultimate gift of the gods. _

_I knew all of that, had heard all the stories, and a part of me yearned for the experience but looking at Annabeth, and the others I saw the future that would be impossible if I said yes. The future that looked corny but nonetheless perfect. I was forming the words of refusal and I was scanning the row of gods in front of where I stood. My mouth opened to speak, and I saw Demeter in front of me and suddenly I heard myself speaking someone else's words: _

"_Thank you Lord Zeus, I accept."_

I shook myself hard to escape the horrible memory, cursing my judgement and carefully setting my expression. The gods hadn't noticed anything I did, as they all thought over Poseidon's words.

After what felt like a millennium of anticipation Hades was the first to start the debate.

"Poseidon is right," his face showed his thoughts that this was a rare occurrence but I allowed myself a silent glint of hope, "He should be made mortal again."

Beside Hades sat the messenger of the gods, Hermes, in his trademark jogging outfit, and looking unbothered as he fiddled with his blackberry.

"Yes, that will be sufficient."

The next answers groaned by at the speed of a snail, but earned another two yeses from a very agitated Hephaestus itching to return to his workshop and Apollo who was still singing Abba under his breath. Unsurprisingly, Ares though my punishment should be more severe and painful and Mr D agreed but by the time my father had cast his vote five had voted for mortality and two had voted against it.

The vote skipped Zeus, he would wait and cast the final vote, and so the next person to decide my fate was Hera, queen of the gods. She was one of the gods who had in fact committed the crime I had done to help me, but she had also taken a disliking to me, and inevitably cast the third vote against Poseidon's idea.

Demeter sat to the left of Hera and I could see obvious displeasure on her face. She had never had anything to do with me and so when I heard her words I was surprised, but not pleasantly,

"I don't think relinquishing his immortality will be enough."

The left side of the room had not been kind and Athena looked to a point behind me for an entire minute before casting the fifth vote against my father's proposal. I didn't even bother turning to see what she was looking at; I didn't need to. Annabeth had been hurt and I deserved to be.

Luckily, the next two gods were in my favour and the two strikingly different gods, Artemis, a child of around eleven years with a wise look on her face and Aphrodite, an exceptionally beautiful woman pouting at me playfully, both voted for my father's idea.

Finally, all the gods, but one had decided leaving the tally at seven gods agreeing with my father and five wishing for something more severe.

"I believe that Poseidon's suggested punishment is not an adequate one, however the majority has decided as so it shall be." The words were unbelievable. I felt like I was feeling everything backward, but the only feeling that had sprouted since finding out I was going to be mortal once more was joy and gratitude.

Turning into a god had been a magical experience as each god's blessing rippled through my body but the only thing I felt in the next few moments was complete agony as my body was wrenched apart. I have no idea how long the pain lasted but I remember hitting the stone floor hard before passing into a coma-like sleep.


	20. Chapter 20

_**Not a very long chapter but something for any Percabeth fans : ) **_

_**Thanks for reading **_

_**~Companion 17 **_

_Annabeth Chase _

**Never a dull day **

_Hanging above me, so close I felt her ice cold breath on the back of my bare neck. Her body swayed in the breeze, like an out of control child with the beams of moonlight shining off the dirty bandages, covering her decaying body. Her hysterical laughter echoing round my skull as I desperately tried to escape her. _

_But she stalked after me, following my movements with ghostly precision, laughing still as she flied easily amongst the branches, towering in the sky above me. Jumping from tree to tree in a never-ending circle that surrounded me, now reciting a haunting poem in her ghastly crumbling cackle: _

_ "Seven half-bloods must answer the call,_

_ To storm or fire the world must fall,_

_ An oath to keep with a final breath,_

_ And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."_

_ The last word fled from her lips as a branch a step away from me snapped from its tree and she plummeted towards the forest floor. On the floor she writhed in agony screaming and laughing with her face screwed up as if oblivious to the world around her. The fall didn't seem to have hurt her at all as she continued to laugh, while her eyes darted around in a frenzy of movement and she screamed and shrieked of the end of time. _

I darted awake instantly, as the cackling laughter of the Rachael Elizabeth Dare in my dream continued to haunt my mind. I was covered in sweat, and breathing uncontrollably fast, trying to convince myself that I had escaped the enclosing forest of my nightmare and that I was back at camp. I was _safe, _relatively speaking.

I sat up in my bed, looking around at the other campers who were blissfully asleep, and then once again, as they had so many times during the evening, my eyes darted through the window just beside my bed to the Poseidon cabin outside.

The picture of Percy leaning against the wall and looking out of the window, an odd mirror of myself, wouldn't leave me. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about seeing him again, it didn't make sense, any of it.

A year ago I could've been certain I knew Percy better than anyone, even myself, but I hadn't imagined he would accept Zeus' offer. A refusal had been hovering above his lips, the words forming and then different words being said; a different future was written.

I shook the thought of Percy away, turning once more to the dark prospect of the prophecy. The obvious questions skirted through my mind…

Who were the half-bloods?

To answer what 'Call'?

What Oath?

And perhaps more worryingly of all, who's final breath…?

A creaking door snapped me back to reality. I darted around to stare at who had interrupted my thoughts. Percy. He stood there, his figure illuminated by the moonlight in the shadowy doorway. Just standing. No words filled the room, not from either of us.

In all the time since last summer I'd imagined seeing him again. each time the scene played out differently in my head. Sometimes there was screaming, fighting. Others there were tears, even enough to fill rivers. Occasionally I stormed out but right then I felt different.

It was like all my anger and sense of betrayal disappeared at that moment. I saw the real Percy. The god Percy had seemed selfish and arrogant and bitter and not really Percy. That had hurt the most, the feeling that the Percy I had known, the Percy I had loved, was gone, almost like he'd died.

But in that moment I realised that that Percy had never left. His dark frame hunched by the door revealed his true self. Fragile but brave. Fearful but ready to stand up and to fight when need be. And kind, insanely kind and caring.

I saw him again, _my _Percy. I gently gestured for him to join me by my bed. He walked towards me and I instinctively stepped into his arms. He wrapped his arms around me and the warmth surrounded me.

I felt completely comfortable and at peace. Percy smiled down at me, his eyes portraying his true happiness.

We made a silent pact in that moment. We didn't need to talk. There would be time for talking later, lots of time. Right then and there all we needed was each other, like we were in our own little bubble.

In the end Percy held me in his arms all night. We fell asleep lying next to each other with his arms still locked around my thin frame, like he never wanted to let me go again.

The night passed by indifferently. The sun ascended into the sky with unprecedented haste. The time for the talking and the prophecy were fast approaching.

Dark times lay ahead but for that moment we were truly happy.

Happiness is a mood, not a destination


End file.
